TY - JOUR
T1 - Role of ultrafine microstructures in dynamic fracture in nanophase silicon nitride
AU - Kalia, Rajiv K.
AU - Nakano, Aiichiro
AU - Omeltchenko, Andrey
AU - Tsuruta, Kenji
AU - Vashishta, Priya
PY - 1997
Y1 - 1997
N2 - Using 106-atom molecular-dynamics simulations, we investigate dynamic fracture in nanophase Si3N4. The simulations reveal that intercluster regions are amorphous, and they deflect cracks and give rise to local crack branching. As a result, the nanophase system is able to sustain an order-of-magnitude larger external strain than crystalline Si3N4. We also determine the morphology of fracture surfaces: For in-plane fracture surface profiles the roughness exponent ζ = 0.57 and for out-of-plane profiles the exponents ζ⊥ = 0.84 and ζ|| = 0.75 are in excellent agreement with experiments.
AB - Using 106-atom molecular-dynamics simulations, we investigate dynamic fracture in nanophase Si3N4. The simulations reveal that intercluster regions are amorphous, and they deflect cracks and give rise to local crack branching. As a result, the nanophase system is able to sustain an order-of-magnitude larger external strain than crystalline Si3N4. We also determine the morphology of fracture surfaces: For in-plane fracture surface profiles the roughness exponent ζ = 0.57 and for out-of-plane profiles the exponents ζ⊥ = 0.84 and ζ|| = 0.75 are in excellent agreement with experiments.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.2144
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.2144
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0001596237
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 78
SP - 2144
EP - 2147
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 11
ER -