Embedded cracks in brittle solids induced by laser-medium interaction (3D-ILC)

The research of fracture mechanics is based on physical experiments, which mainly deal with the specimen containing cracks and defaults. Since surface cracks and penetrated cracks are relatively easy to make and observe, the theoretical study on fracture mostly depends on these two kinds of experiments. The embedded cracks actually can largely influence the characteristics of the materials. However, the experiments with embedded cracks have been a tough task because of the difficulty in the manufacturing technique. A new method (3D-ILC) is proposed for making the internal embedded cracks based on the laser-medium damage theory. Firstly, review of the traditional methods for embedded cracks is given. Then the theory of laser-medium damage is proposed. The specimen examples with a single embedded crack, double X-type cracks and multi-cracks are shown. By the axial compressive experiment tests, the feasibility of 3D-ILC is confirmed. Meanwhile, 3D-ILC has the following advantages: easy observation, economy and efficiency, real cracks, high homogeneity, easy control and great reduction of discretization of results, which is very important in experimental research. The proposed 3D-ILC method will provide vast potential for future development of fracture mechanics.