COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF FRACTURE AND CRYSTALLIZATION PROCESSES

Recently in many areas of science we have seen increasing interest in critical phenomena, phase transitions, and the common characteristics of various processes. However, common characteristics have not been de termined connecting processes of deformation, fracture, and crystalliz ation. Obviously, the common nature of these processes, as for many ot her natural phenomena, should be sought on the basis of the thermodyna mics of irreversible processes. Such an approach probably will allow u s to connect phenomena occurring in solid, liquid, and gaseous media. This paper is devoted to analysis of the common characteristics of fra cture and crystallization processes. We consider the characteristic fe atures of the generation and accumulation of defects, and also nucleat ion of crystals of new phase. Both processes (fracture and crystalliza tion) are analyzed from the standpoint of phase transition theory.