Numerical methods for crack loading analyses in quasicrystals

Since the first discovery of quasicrystals in a man made Al-Mn alloy about thirty years ago, people made great effort to investigate this kind of outstanding material. The materials scientists are constantly trying to produce stable quasicrystalline particles or even a complete single quasicrystalline specimen. On the other hand, the fracture behaviour of quasicrystals is started to be investigated because the coupling effect between phonon and phason fields can rebuild the conventional fracture criteria. This work develops a numerical tool for simulating in-plane problems of 1D QC and extends the fracture quantities i.e. stress intensity factors (SIF) and strain energy release rate to phason fields. Finally, numerical results are given to reveal what difference the phason field can bring into conventional fracture quantities. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)