Chaotic atom motion excited by fracture

Many experimental phenomena concerning microscopic fracture processes have an atomistic origin. The crack tip atom motion excited by fracture is highly nonlinear and chaotic, rendering the atom-istic and chaotic characterizations as essential aspects of fracture processes. In this article, we outline a combined atomistic-continuum formulism for material fracture studies. The chaotic atom motion near a crack tip is explored by using a simplified atom-continuum model, so that an analytical characterization is possible. The phenomena examined under this methodology include catastrophic atomistic cleavage, fracto-emisson, chaos in dynamic cleavage and chaotic dislocation emissions.