Phase transition in a spring-block model of surface fracture

A simple and robust spring-block model obeying threshold dynamics is introduced to study surface fracture of an overlayer subject to stress induced by adhesion to a substrate. We find a novel phase transition in the crack morphology and fragment-size statistics when the strain and the substrate coupling are varied. Across the transition, the cracks display in succession short-range, power-law and long-range correlations. The study of stress release prior to cracking yields useful information on the cracking process.