Computer modeling of thermal shock-induced crack growth in brittle materials

Abstract

Crack morphology in brittle materials exposed to thermal shock is studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations based on simple three-dimensional lattice systems. Thermal shock-induced crack growth is modeled as a series of processes of storage, release, and transfer of strain energies in the system of grains. Special attention is devoted to the crack pattern on the surface exposed to thermal shock and the crack penetration in the direction perpendicular to the surface. The dependences of the crack pattern and the crack penetration on the grain boundary strength and the temperature difference of thermal shock are explored through the simulations. The results of the simulations are qualitatively consistent with crack features in available experimental reports.