Mechanisms of brittle fracture of solids exposed to intense-pulsed-electron-beams

This work is devoted to studying of the nonlinear effect of brittle fracture of solids exposed to intense-pulsed-electron-beam (IPEB). The mechanism of this is analysed and discussed for semiconductors, metals, rock stones, inorganic glasses and in detail for ionic crystals (IC). Except for IC, the single reason for fracture was thermal shock, and the observed patterns of spalling had typical features of thermoshock. IC fracture has important characteristic properties, which determine their unusual mechanism of fracture. A three-stage physical model has been proposed and a simulation of this process has been made by the Monte-Carlo method. The comparision of experimental data with the results from the theoretical model, showed good agreement. Some parameters of radiation fracture have been estimated, (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.