Soft solids are sticky. They attract each other and spontaneously form a large area of
contact. Their force of attraction is higher when separating than when forming contact, a …

A powerful semi-analytical method is developed to investigate the impact of tough inclusions
on crack paths and the resulting effective fracture properties. Using a perturbative approach …

This paper addresses the question of the homogenization of fracture properties for three-
dimensional disordered brittle solids. The effective toughness, identified as the minimum …

This paper continues the study of the effective adhesion of thin films on rigid substrates in
the presence of spatial heterogeneities started in Xia et al.(2013). In this paper, we focus on …

When a crack interacts with material heterogeneities, its front distorts and adopts complex
tortuous configurations that are reminiscent of the energy barriers encountered during crack …

In this work, we explore the possibility of controlling toughening mechanisms in brittle
materials through microstructure design to enhance their resistance to crack growth. First, a …

Adhesion hysteresis can be caused by elastic instabilities that are triggered by surface
roughness or chemical heterogeneity. However, the role of these instabilities in adhesion …

Crack fronts deform due to heterogeneities, and inspecting these deformations can reveal
local variations of material properties, and help predict out-of-plane damage. Current …

In the presence of impurities, ferromagnetic and ferroelectric domain walls slide only above
a finite external field. Close to this depinning threshold, they proceed by large and abrupt …

The yield stress of random solid solutions is a classic theme in physical metallurgy that
currently attracts a renewed interest in connection to high entropy alloys. Here, we revisit this …