FORMATION AND CONVERGENCE OF NANOCRACKS IN MECHANICALLY LOADED NANOCRYSTALLINE SOLIDS

Abstract. A theoretical model is suggested which describes formation and convergence of nano-scale cracks along grain boundaries in nanocrystalline materials under quasistatic mechanical loading. In the framework of the suggested model, the convergence of cracks is described as a percolation process consisting of independent elementary events each being the formation of a nano-scale crack along one grain boundary. The effect of a distribution in geometric parameters (length, orientation) of grain boundaries in a mechanically loaded nanocrystalline solid on the convergence of nano-scale cracks, leading to the macroscopic crack formation, is analysed. 1