Fracture toughening and toughness asymmetry induced by flexoelectricity

Author (s): Abdollahi, A.; Peco, C.; Millán, D.; Arroyo, M.; Catalan, G.; Arias, I.
Journal: Physical Review B

Volume: 92
Date: 2015

Abstract:
Cracks generate the largest strain gradients that any material can withstand. Flexoelectricity (coupling between strain gradient and polarization) must therefore play an important role in fracture physics. Here we use a self-consistent continuum model to evidence two consequences of flexoelectricity in fracture: the resistance to fracture increases as structural size decreases, and it becomes asymmetric with respect to the sign of polarization. The latter phenomenon manifests itself in a range of intermediate sizes where piezo- and flexoelectricity compete. In BaTiO3 at room temperature, this range spans from 0.1 to 50 nm, a typical thickness range for epitaxial ferroelectric thin films

  
  

Bibtex:

@article{SZ-ZDMH:15,
        Author = {Sergio Zlotnik and Pedro D\'{\i}ez and David Modesto and Antonio Huerta},
        Title = {{P}roper {G}eneralized {D}ecomposition of a geometrically parametrized heat problem with geophysical applications},
        Fjournal = {International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering},
        Journal = {Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng.},
        Volume = {},
        Number = {},
        Pages = {},
        Year = {2015},
	Note = {10.1002/nme.4909}
        }