Topological Defect Formation in Slow Three-Dimensional Fracture

Cracks develop various surface patterns as they propagate in three-dimensional (3D) materials. Symmetry-breaking topological defects in nominally tensile (mode-I) fracture emerge in the slow (noninertial) regime, taking the form of surface steps. We show that the same phase-field framework that recently shed basic light on dynamic (inertial) tensile fracture in three dimensions, also gives rise to crack surface steps. Step formation is shown to involve two essential physical ingredients: finite-strength quenched disorder and a small, mesoscopic antiplane shear (mode-III) loading component (on top of the dominant tensile, mode-I loading component). We quantify the nonlinear interplay between disorder (both its strength and spatial correlation length) and mesoscopic mode I+III mixity in controlling step formation. Finally, we show that surface steps grow out of the small-scale, background surface roughness and are composed of two overlapping crack segments connected by a bridging crack, in agreement with experiments.