2015 journal article

Interfacial effects on fracture nucleation and propagation in crystalline-amorphous energetic material systems

COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS SCIENCE, 104, 10–22.

By: D. LaBarbera* & M. Zikry n

co-author countries: United States of America 🇺🇸
author keywords: RDX; Crack propagation; Energetic interface; Viscous effects; Crack arrest
Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 6, 2018

Local failure modes, such as the nucleation and propagation of a pre-existing crack, have been investigated for energetic materials with a viscoelastic binder and crystalline grains subjected to dynamic thermal and mechanical loading conditions. A crystalline plasticity with dislocation density, finite viscoelasticity, dynamic fracture nucleation and propagation methods, and finite element methods were used to study crack nucleation and propagation due to dynamic thermal and mechanical loading conditions. The interrelated effects of dislocation densities, grain boundary (GB) misorientations, polymer binder relaxation, and interactions between crystal and binder were coupled to material thermal decomposition, adiabatic inelastic heating, viscous dissipation heating, and thermal conduction to analyze interfacial fracture behavior in RDX–estane systems. The predictions indicate that cracks propagated toward the binder and were arrested due to the viscous nature of the polymer binder and plasticity buildup. For low angle misorientations, the pre-existing crack propagated toward the binder with increasing crack tip speed until it reaches the binder, at which point the crack was arrested. For high angle misorientations, the crack propagated toward the binder and was arrested, adjacent to the binder, due to plastic deformation and lattice rotations. A secondary crack eventually nucleated and propagated to the interface, where it was arrested.