Crack growth calculations in solder joints based on microstructural phenomena with X-FEM

► X-FEM is used to simulate crack growth in solder joints for the first time. ► This is the first attempt to generate random grain structures in order to model the recrystallized microstructure of thermally cycled solder joints. ► Using the meshing procedure proposed in the article, crack growth calculations in solder joints can be automated completely. ► The statistical variety of possible grain structures in solder joints may therefore be captured by performing many crack growth calculations for different grain structures in parallel. As a result a realistic failure probability for solder joints can be obtained in industrial applications. ► Constitutive laws for the grains are determined in an inverse procedure. ► Crack growth simulations are compared to experimental data taken from the literature.