Avalanches, Clusters, and Structural Change in Cyclically Sheared Silica Glass
Himangsu Bhaumik, Giuseppe Foffi, Srikanth Sastry
Abstract
We investigate avalanches and clusters associated with plastic rearrangements and the nature of structural change in the prototypical strong glass, silica, computationally. We perform a detailed analysis of avalanches, and of spatially disconnected clusters that constitute them, for a wide range of system sizes. Although qualitative aspects of yielding in silica are similar to other glasses, the statistics of clusters exhibits significant differences, which we associate with differences in local structure. Across the yielding transition, anomalous structural change and densification, associated with a suppression of tetrahedral order, is observed to accompany strain localization.
Topics & Concepts
Materials scienceStructural changeTetrahedronCluster (spacecraft)Chemical physicsRange (aeronautics)Silica glassLocal structureStatistical physicsMolecular dynamicsCondensed matter physicsCrystallographyPhysicsComposite materialComputer scienceChemistryQuantum mechanicsMacroeconomicsProgramming languageEconomicsMaterial Dynamics and PropertiesGlass properties and applicationsGeological and Geochemical Analysis