Abstract
Chemo-mechanical coupled fracture is ubiquitous among various application fields. Understanding the mechanism of crack propagation is critical to the prediction and control of fracture behavior. In this paper, mechanical damage and chemical erosion have been investigated by a combination of experiments and theoretical analysis. We developed a theoretical model to analyze the interface evolution and the mechanical state of the crack tip in chemically active environments based on the transition-state theory. This model enables us to predict mechanical failure and chemical corrosion of materials exposed to external acid attack. Theoretical predictions of the corrosion rate and fracture strength have been validated by fracture experiments performed in different concentrations of corrosive solutions. In particular, we discovered a non-monotonic and non-linear relationship between the degree of corrosion and fracture strength, which demonstrates that corrosion-induced crack tip blunting and mass loss of materials together affect the cracking critical state. We further conducted the thermodynamic analysis of a quasi-static cracked body to investigate the effect of corrosion on energy stored in the crack tip. Our theory-experiment-combined study reveals the mechanism of coupling chemical and mechanical damage and provides significant insight into corrosion-induced fracture behavior in aggressive environments.
Published Version
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