The propagation of cracks by cavitation: A general theory

In many materials, both ductile and brittle, cracks propagate by the nucleation and growth of cavities in advance of the crack tip. During stable crack growth, a steady-state can be achieved in which the size of cavities depends only on their position ahead of the crack tip. In the present paper we have modelled this process in a general way. We assume that the stress field ahead of the crack tip can be determined independently of the …