Chemical Effects on Subcritical Fracture in Silica From Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Fracture toughness of silicates is reduced in aqueous environments due to water-silica interactions at the crack tip. To investigate this effect, classical molecular dynamics simulations using the bond-order-based reactive force field (ReaxFF) were used to simulate silica fracture. The chemical and mechanical aspects were separated by simulating fracture in (a) a vacuum with dynamic loading, (b) an aqueous environment with dynamic loading, and (c) an aqueous environment with static subcritical mechanical loading to track silica dissolution. The addition of water to silica fracture reduced the silica fracture toughness by 25%, a trend consistent with experimentally reported results. Analysis of SiO bonds in the process zone and calculations of dissipation energy associated with fracture indicated that water relaxes the entire process zone and not just the surface. Additionally, the crack tip sharpens during fracture in water and an increased number of microscopic propagation events occur. This results in earlier fracture in systems with increasing mechanical loading in aqueous conditions, despite the lack of significant silica dissolution. Therefore, the threshold for SiO bond breakage has been lowered in the presence of water and the reduction in fracture toughness is due to structural and energetic changes in the silica, rather than specific dissolution events.