Phase-field modeling of crack propagation in polycrystalline materials
A phase-field model based on a modified form of the regularized formulation of Griffith’s fracture theory is presented to investigate intergranular and transgranular crack propagations in polycrystalline brittle materials. Grains and grain boundaries are incorporated in the crack initiation and propagation model based on a phase-field model for grain growth, in which the elastic anisotropy varies based on the grain orientation angle, and the grain boundary energy is related to the misorientation angle of the adjacent grains.