Published by AMSS Press, Wuhan, China. DOI: 10.1007/s10338-008-0839-9 Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica, Vol. 21, No. 4, August, 2008 ISSN 0894-9166 MAGNETIC STRIPS TO SIMULATE LAYERED BRITTLE SOLIDS IN CLEAVAGE AND FRACTURE EXPERIMENTS ⋆⋆ Francisco G. Emmerich ⋆1 Alfredo G. Cunha Carlos M.A. Girelli Arnobio I. Vassem (Laboratory of Carbon and Ceramic Materials, Department of Physics, Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, 29075-910 Vitoria-ES, Brazil) Received 24 June 2008 ABSTRACT A characteristic of the fracture and cleavage experiments is that they are usually intrinsically destructive. Cracks do not completely heal in an unstressed system, even in crystals such as mica. Here, we used magnetic solids composed of magnetic strips for the non-destructive cleavage and brittle fracture experiments. Between the magnetic strips materials with different mechanical characteristics can be inserted, such as Teflon or foam strips, to change the mechanical properties of the solid. For the cleavage experiments, we developed an apparatus where parameters such as the main involved force can be measured easily. By inserting flaws, the magnetic solid can be used in dynamic fracture experiments, with the advantages of simulating macroscopically a non-destructive experiment in an easier way, that happen in real materials with much higher velocities. The apparatus and the used magnetic solid may be useful for demonstrations of fractures in classes. KEY WORDS layered brittle solids, non-destructive measurements, cleavage, fracture I. INTRODUCTION The measurement of material properties using non-destructive techniques, as described in the patents of Virdi [1] and Hutchinson and Langman [2] is of great interest. The fracture experiments are intrinsically destructive because cracks do not completely heal in an unstressed system, even in crystals such as mica [3] . Generally, there are difficulties in the reproduction of such events, especially in the case of the brittle solids, because the tensile strength depends on the details of the material texture and particularly of their flaws. Moreover, as shown by Fineberg [4] , Buehler et al. [5] , and Marder [6] , the dynamics of the fracture is governed by the behavior of the material at the smallest scale around the tip of a flaw, but the experimental access to this region is usually an extremely difficult task because the zone sometimes approaches atomic dimensions and the fracture can occur very rapidly. Recently, Emmerich [7, 8] has addressed these questions, accessing experimentally the region where the rupture starts. He worked with a two-dimensional solid composed of unit cells formed by quadrupole magnets with foams glued on the inferior faces. The solid was disposed in a brick-wall pattern, with atomistic characteristics similar to the crack tip of brittle materials. Using an apparatus [9] , over which non-destructive fracture experiments were repeatedly performed. ⋆ Corresponding author. E-mail: fgemmerich@terra.com.br ⋆⋆ Project supported by the Brazilian agencies CNPq, CAPES and FINEP, and by Petrobras.