# Subcritical crack growth in fibrous materials

Abstract : We present experiments on the slow growth of a single crack in a fax paper sheet submitted to a constant force $F$. We find that statistically averaged crack growth curves can be described by only two parameters : the mean rupture time $\tau$ and a characteristic growth length $\zeta$. We propose a model based on a thermally activated rupture process that takes into account the microstructure of cellulose fibers. The model is able to reproduce the shape of the growth curve, the dependence of $\zeta$ on $F$ as well as the effect of temperature on the rupture time $\tau$. We find that the length scale at which rupture occurs in this model is consistently close to the diameter of cellulose microfibrils.
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https://hal-ens-lyon.archives-ouvertes.fr/ensl-00156825
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Submitted on : Friday, June 22, 2007 - 4:57:20 PM
Last modification on : Friday, September 30, 2022 - 11:40:09 AM
Long-term archiving on: : Thursday, April 8, 2010 - 9:16:42 PM

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### Citation

Stéphane Santucci, Pierre-Philippe Cortet, Stéphanie Deschanel, Loïc Vanel, Sergio Ciliberto. Subcritical crack growth in fibrous materials. EPL - Europhysics Letters, European Physical Society/EDP Sciences/Società Italiana di Fisica/IOP Publishing, 2006, 74 (4), pp.595. ⟨10.1209/epl/i2005-10575-2⟩. ⟨ensl-00156825⟩

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