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Fracture Diodes: Directional Asymmetry of Fracture Toughness

N. R. Brodnik1,†, S. Brach2,†, C. M. Long3, G. Ravichandran3, B. Bourdin4, K. T. Faber3,*, and K. Bhattacharya3,*

  • 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
  • 2Laboratoire de Mécanique des Solides, École Polytechnique, 91120 Palaiseau, France
  • 3Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 4Department of Mathematics, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA

  • *Corresponding authors. ktfaber@caltech.edu, bhatta@caltech.edu
  • †These authors contributed equally to this work.
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 025503 – Published 14 January, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.025503

Abstract

Toughness describes the ability of a material to resist fracture or crack propagation. It is demonstrated here that fracture toughness of a material can be asymmetric, i.e., the resistance of a medium to a crack propagating from right to left can be significantly different from that to a crack propagating from left to right. Such asymmetry is unknown in natural materials, but we show that it can be built into artificial materials through the proper control of microstructure. This paves the way for control of crack paths and direction, where fracture—when unavoidable—can be guided through predesigned paths to minimize loss of critical components.

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What It’s Cracked Up To Be

Published 14 January, 2021

Researchers have designed a metamaterial that is nearly twice as resistant to cracking in one direction versus the other—what they call a fracture diode.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 025503– Published 14 January, 2021
  • Received 8 June 2020
  • Accepted 23 November 2020
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