Deformation behaviour of Materials with Amorphous Microstructure

David Fernandez Castello, Michael Zaiser, Stefan Sandfeld

The goal of this project is to predict the mechanical response of amorphous materials. To achieve this we aim at understanding fundamental aspects of e.g. the glass transition, critical points/phenomena and anomalous behavior in phase transitions.
Models employed in this project are trying to push their limits a little further: in terms of time scales, we investigate the creep behavior of disordered media; in terms of length scales, we aim at larger 3-dimensional systems and are able to investigate e.g. surface roughening effects as well as the occurrence of localized shear banding. Our tensorial models combine features from statistical physics as e.g. strain avalanches with well-established engineering approaches, where our finite element-based models can easily consider complex stress states and surface effects.

S. Sandfeld, Z. Budrikis, S. Zapperi, D. Fernandez-Castellanos
Avalanches, loading and finite size effects in 2D amorphous plasticity: results from a finite element model,
J. Stat. Mech. Theory Exp. 2015, p. P02011, 2015. Preprint

S. Sandfeld and M. Zaiser
Deformation patterns and surface morphology in a minimal model of amorphous plasticity,
J. Stat. Mech. Theory Exp. 2014, 2014. Preprint