Atomistic Fracture Mechanics

In this chapter, we investigate the atomisticAtomistic fracture behavior a two dimensional materialTwo dimensional material (graphene), accounting for crack tip stress field, using molecular dynamicsMolecular dynamics (MD). We further examine two cases of interacting nanodefects. The first involves an atomisticAtomistic zigzag crack interacting with atomisticAtomistic vacancies and in the second we investigate an armchair crack interacting with the same vacancies. We demonstrate that the crack-tip stress field of an existing crack in graphene can be effectively tailored by the strategic positioning of atomic vacancies of varied shapes, locations, and orientations near its tip. The crack-vacancy interactions result in a remarkable improvement in the fracture strength of graphene. The crack healingCrack healing phenomenon is also examined and discussed in this chapter.