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The intimate relationship between cavitation and fracture
Shabnam Raayai-Ardakani1, Darla Rachelle Earl, Tal Cohen
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Soft Matter
|May 11, 2019
Summary
Cavitation and fracture in soft materials are closely linked. This study reveals a predictable pressure-volume response during cavity expansion, explaining complex fracture patterns and determining material fracture energy.
Area of Science:
- Mechanics of soft materials
- Fracture mechanics
- Material science
Background:
- Cavitation in soft materials remains poorly understood, with ongoing debate regarding its driving mechanisms.
- Previous studies faced ambiguities in tracking the full cavitation and fracture process.
Purpose of the Study:
- To elucidate the relationship between cavitation and fracture in soft materials.
- To develop a theoretical framework predicting the pressure-volume response during cavity expansion.
- To determine the fracture energy of PDMS and its dependence on strain stiffening.
Main Methods:
- High-precision volume-controlled cavity expansion experiments.
- Combining Griffith-inspired crack propagation and Gent-inspired cavity expansion models.
- Experimental validation using PDMS samples with varying shear moduli (25-246 kPa).
Main Results:
- The pressure-volume response during cavity expansion follows a predictable path, despite complex fracture patterns.
- The developed model and experiments successfully track the entire expansion process, including unstable branches.
- Metastable states were identified, explaining ambiguities in prior experimental results and revealing first-order transitions at fracture onset.
Conclusions:
- Cavitation and fracture act synergistically in driving the expansion process in soft materials.
- The study provides a minimal theoretical framework for understanding these coupled phenomena.
- The fracture energy of PDMS was determined and shown to be significantly influenced by strain stiffening.
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