Transitions from the Oscillatory to Smooth Fracture Propagation in Brittle Metallic Glasses

Abstract

Abstract: We present a simple model to explain the transition from the oscillatory to smooth propagation in brittle metallic glasses. We demonstrate that the smooth fracture propagation that is characteristic for higher temperature or higher crack opening velocities (for type 1 crack propagation) becomes unstable and oscillatory behavior is being observed. The characteristic feature size of the crack propagation may be at the nanometer scale and grows as the opening velocity decreases.