Strain and stress at the fracture of percolative media

2014 We measured the strain and the stress of a perforated metal foil and of a diluted elastic network near the percolation threshold. We used two different techniques : in the first, the strain is increased continuously and monotonically until the system ruptures, whereas in the second, it is the stress which is increased monotonically. We determined the critical exponent of the fracture stress 03C3f ~ (pc p)Tf, with Tf = 2.5 ± 0.4 and the critical exponent of the fracture strain 03B5f ~ (pc p)-Tu with Tu = 1.4 ± 0.2. A theoretical interpretation of the results is proposed within the framework of the nodes-links-blobs picture. J. Physique 48 (1987) 1547-1551 SEPTEMBRE 1987,