Principal Investigator Markus Buehler
Project Website http://web.mit.edu.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/newsoffice/2006/cracks.html
Crack moving along an interface of a very soft material (biopolymer) and a hard material (steel). Such studies enable to develop new theories of deformation of failure of such interfaces. Fractures along weak material planes can move at supersonic speeds. Similar phenomena of intersonic rupture have been observed in earthquakes.