Non-universality in Micro-branching Instabilities in Rapid Fracture: the Role of Material Properties

In spite of the apparent similarity of micro-branching instabilities in different brittle materials, we propose that the physics determining the typical length- and time-scales characterizing the post-instability patterns differ greatly from material to material. We offer a scaling theory connecting the pattern characteristics to material properties (like molecular weight) in brittle plastics like PMMA, and stress the fundamental differences with patterns in glass which are crucially influenced by 3-dimensional dynamics. In both cases the present ab-initio theoretical models are still too far from reality, disregarding some fundamental physics of the phenomena.