Physicists gain insights into why materials break

New research suggests scientists could eventually help create materials that resist breaking or crack in a predictable fashion. Using both a simulation and artificial structures called metamaterials, scientists at the University of Chicago, New York University and Leiden University found material failure can be continuously tuned through changes in its underlying rigidity. The research, published Sept. 27 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , were the result of experiments and computer simulations in which researchers examined the effects of varying the rigidity of a material. 'This research suggests that there is a new axis that can be explored and possibly exploited in determining how materials fail,' said Sidney R. Nagel, the Stein-Freiler Distinguished Service Professor in Physics and a co-author of the paper. 'It is only speculation at this point, but this work could allow for better ways of creating materials to withstand certain types of impact without catastrophic failure.' As a solid approaches a certain level of rigidity, its failure behavior changes dramatically, and the nature of the break is profoundly different at high and low rigidities, the research concluded. Studying and controlling this in a systematic way will give scientists a better understanding of how materials break.