Fracture in glass via molecular dynamics simulations and atomic force microscopy experiments

Through a joint molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of dynamic fracture and atomic force microscopy (AFM) study of stress corrosion fracture, we provide evidence for a unified scenario of damage spreading in pure amorphous silica (a-SiO2). Over the whole range of velocities, the crack progresses through the growth and coalescence of nanoscale damage cavities. The cavitation process is shown to set the process zone size. Both cavity size and the process zone size variations with respect to crack velocity are presented and discussed.