Scratching as a Fracture Process: From Butter to Steel

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Scratching as a Fracture Process: From Butter to Steel

A-T. Akono, P. M. Reis, and F-J. Ulm

Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 204302 – Published 20 May 2011

Abstract

We present results of a hybrid experimental and theoretical investigation of the fracture scaling in scratch tests and show that scratching is a fracture dominated process. Validated for paraffin wax, cement paste, Jurassic limestone and steel, we derive a model that provides a quantitative means to relate quantities measured in scratch tests to fracture properties of materials at multiple scales. The scalability of scratching for different probes and depths opens new venues towards miniaturization of our technique, to extract fracture properties of materials at even smaller length scales.

Received 8 December 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.204302

Authors & Affiliations

A-T. Akono¹, P. M. Reis^1,2, and F-J. Ulm^1,*

¹Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
²Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA

^*To whom all correspondence should be addressed. ulm@mit.edu

Scratching Reaches the Breaking Point

Michael Schirber

Phys. Rev. Focus 27, 20 (2011)

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Vol. 106, Iss. 20 — 20 May 2011

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