Abstract
Based on a fiber bundle model we substantially extend the phase-transition analogy of thermally activated breakdown of homogeneous materials. We show that the competition of breaking due to stress enhancement and due to thermal fluctuations leads to an astonishing complexity of the phase space of the system: varying the load and the temperature a phase boundary emerges, separating a Griffith-type regime of abrupt failure analogous to first-order phase transitions from disorder dominated fracture where a spanning cluster of cracks emerges. We demonstrate that the phase boundary is the Kertész line of the system along which thermally activated fracture appears as a continuous phase transition analogous to percolation. The Kertész line has technological relevance setting the boundary of safe operation for construction components under high thermal loads. © 2010 The American Physical Society.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Physical Review E |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 12 2010 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUK-I1-005-04
Acknowledgements: This work was partly supported by the MTA-JSPS program and by the Global Research Partnership program of KAUST Grant No. KUK-I1-005-04. N.Y. is grateful for support of the Global COE Program Global Center of Excellence for Physical Sciences Frontier. F.K. acknowledges support of the project TAMOP Grant No. 4.2.1-08/1-2008-003 and of the Bolyai Janos project of HAS.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.