Development and geometry of isotropic and directional shrinkage crack patterns

Development and geometry of isotropic and directional shrinkage crack patterns

Physical Review E, 61, 6950 (2000).

Kelly A. Shorlin and John R. de Bruyn


Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography,
Memorial University of Newfoundland,
St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada A1B 3X7

Malcolm Graham and Stephen W. Morris


Department of Physics, University of Toronto,
60 St. George St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A7.

We have studied shrinkage crack patterns which form when a thin layer of an alumina/water slurry dries. Both isotropic and directional drying were studied. The dynamics of the pattern formation process and the geometric properties of the isotropic crack patterns are similar to what is expected from recent models, assuming weak disorder. There is some evidence for a gradual increase in disorder as the drying layer become thinner, but no sudden transition, in contrast to what has been seen in previous experiments. The morphology of the crack patterns is influenced by drying gradients and front propagation effects, with sharp gradients having a strong orienting and ordering effect.

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