On failure mechanisms and load-parallel cracking in confined elastomeric layers

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Dahal, Aarosh, Kumar, Aditya
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Dahal, Aarosh
Kumar, Aditya
author_facet Dahal, Aarosh
Kumar, Aditya
contents Thin layers of elastomers bonded to two rigid plates demonstrate unusual failure response. Historically, it has been believed that strongly-bonded layers fail by two distinct mechanisms: (i) internal/external penny-shaped crack nucleation and propagation, and (ii) cavitation, that is, cavity growth leading to fibrillation and then failure. However, recent work has demonstrated that cavitation itself is predominantly a fracture process. While the equations describing cavitation from a macroscopic or top-down view are now known and validated with experiments, several aspects of the cavitation crack growth need to be better understood. Notably, cavitation often involves through-thickness crack growth parallel to the loading direction, raising questions about when it initiates instead of the more typical penny-shaped cracks perpendicular to the load. Understanding and controlling the two vertical and horizontal crack growth is key to developing tougher soft films and adhesives. The purpose of this Letter is to provide an explanation for the load-parallel crack growth through a comprehensive numerical analysis and highlight the role of various material and geometrical parameters.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_09042
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On failure mechanisms and load-parallel cracking in confined elastomeric layers
Dahal, Aarosh
Kumar, Aditya
Soft Condensed Matter
Materials Science
Thin layers of elastomers bonded to two rigid plates demonstrate unusual failure response. Historically, it has been believed that strongly-bonded layers fail by two distinct mechanisms: (i) internal/external penny-shaped crack nucleation and propagation, and (ii) cavitation, that is, cavity growth leading to fibrillation and then failure. However, recent work has demonstrated that cavitation itself is predominantly a fracture process. While the equations describing cavitation from a macroscopic or top-down view are now known and validated with experiments, several aspects of the cavitation crack growth need to be better understood. Notably, cavitation often involves through-thickness crack growth parallel to the loading direction, raising questions about when it initiates instead of the more typical penny-shaped cracks perpendicular to the load. Understanding and controlling the two vertical and horizontal crack growth is key to developing tougher soft films and adhesives. The purpose of this Letter is to provide an explanation for the load-parallel crack growth through a comprehensive numerical analysis and highlight the role of various material and geometrical parameters.
title On failure mechanisms and load-parallel cracking in confined elastomeric layers
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.09042