Crack propagation during the indentation test of a ferroelectric single crystal is simulated using a phase-field model. This model is based on variational formulations of brittle crack propagation and domain evolution in ferroelectric materials. Due to the high compressive stresses near the indenter contact faces, a modified regularized formulation of the variational brittle fracture is coupled...

This paper presents a versatile model-free approach for linking the damage in highly heterogeneous materials at multiple scales. The proposed scheme evolves from phase-field modelling microscopic scale to simulate brittle failure, towards estimation of effective elastic, toughness and strength properties material mesoscopic scale, via coarse-graining technique. On one side, it’s shown that, com...

Mineralized biological materials such as bone, sea sponges or diatoms provide load-bearing and armor functions and universally feature structural hierarchies from nano to macro. Here we report a systematic investigation of the effect of hierarchical structures on toughness and defect-tolerance based on a single and mechanically inferior brittle base material, silica, using a bottom-up approach ...