Rohini Subrahmanyam

We Know Simple Fluids Can Flow. Turns Out, Some Can Fracture.

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With a faster apparatus, less-viscous liquids such as honey or water might also fracture.
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The hydrocarbon blend fractured every time researchers measured it, producing a sharp pop.
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Cracks in tested simple liquids traveled at approximately 500 to 1,500 meters per second, versus 0.07 in melted polystyrene.
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Liquid fracture may not require elasticity, challenging a longstanding assumption drawn from viscoelastic fluids.
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A hydrocarbon blend, despite being a nonelastic simple fluid, can fracture under tensile stress instead of simply flowing.
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When pressure drops, cavitation creates intermolecular voids that can rapidly merge into a glass-like crack.
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A liquid’s apparent fracture threshold may reflect the testing machine’s speed limit, not the liquid’s true limit.
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In complex fluids, long molecular chains absorb fracture energy and slow cracks. Simple fluids lack that mechanism.
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A liquid’s critical fracture stress scales with viscosity multiplied by strain rate, so faster stretching offsets lower viscosity.
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Simple fluids relieve stress by flowing, while brittle solids store elastic energy and release it through growing cracks.

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