The interface effect of a nano-inhomogeneity on the fracture behavior of a crack and the nearby edge dislocation

The interface effect of a nano-inhomogeneity on the elastic–plastic fracture behavior of a crack with the influence of nearby edge dislocation is studied by applying the surface/interface stress model. When the inhomogeneity and the crack become nano-sized, the bimaterial interface contributes considerable stresses to the crack surfaces, which are usually ignored in the traditional micro/macro crack problems. With the existence of nano-inhomogeneity, an extra dislocation near the crack may be either absorbed into the crack (so the crack grows bigger) or repelled away by the crack and the inhomogeneity. The Zener–Stroh mechanism is employed to model the nano-sized fracture behavior and the generalized Irwin plastic zone correction is taken to improve the fracture analysis at the crack tips. Using the complex potential functions and distributed dislocation method, the stress intensity factor, plastic zone size, and crack tip opening displacement are evaluated by solving the Cauchy singular integral equations. The numerical examples prove that the values of stress intensity factors, plastic zone size and crack tip opening displacement are sensitive to the interface properties of the current nano-scaled problem, especially when the inhomogeneity is small. When the extra edge dislocation is close to the sharp crack tip, the stress intensity factor increases significantly, which indicates the crack has a potential to absorb the nearby dislocation. Further investigations find that mixed mode loading conditions always induce much higher stress intensity factors, plastic zone size, and crack tip opening displacement comparing to pure mode I loading problem.