Fracture Behavior of a Solid with Random Porosity

Abstract

We report the results of an experimental study of the fracture stress, $S$ and the Young's modulus, $E$, of a two-dimensional solid (network) which has undergone random dilution to the point where the solid becomes geometrically disconnected. In the scaling region, $E\sim {(p-p_c)}^f$ with $f=3.1\mathrm{}\pm 0.1$ and $S\sim {(p-p_c)}^F$ with $F=1.7\mathrm{}\pm 0.1$. We find that appropriately modified formulations of the Griffith relation can account for the fracture stress in the entire range of bond dilution.