Thermoelastic fracture of two-dimensional hexagonal quasicrystal media weakened by a penny-shaped crack subjected to uniformly antisymmetric heat fluxes

Abstract

This study focuses on the thermoelastic fracture behavior of quasicrystals, a class of solids that exhibit unique properties between traditional crystals and amorphous materials. The complex atomic structure of quasicrystals poses challenges in understanding their fracture mechanisms under thermoelastic loading conditions. Central to our investigation is an analytical examination of a penny-shaped crack in an infinite three-dimensional body composed of two-dimensional hexagonal quasicrystals, where the upper and lower crack surfaces are applied to a pair of uniformly antisymmetric heat fluxes. This crack problem requires simultaneous consideration of thermal-phason-phonon multiple field coupling. According to the symmetry of field variables with respect to the crack plane, the thermal-phason-phonon coupled crack problem is transformed into a mixed boundary value problem in the upper half space. The extended displacement discontinuities, encompassing both phonon and phason displacement discontinuities, as well as the temperature discontinuity, are chosen as the basic unknown variables to construct the boundary integral-differential equations governing the mixed boundary value problem. Based on these boundary governing equations and Fabrikant's potential theory method, the problem with the crack surface subjected to uniform antisymmetric heat fluxes is solved. The solutions of thermal-phason-phonon fields on the crack plane, and in the full space are given in closed-form. Numerical results are employed to validate the obtained analytical solutions and visually illustrate the spatial distribution of thermal-phonon-phason coupling fields in the vicinity of the crack. The study provides fundamental insights into the behavior of cracks in quasicrystals under thermal loading, with potential implications for the design of new materials and structures.