Phase-field modeling of crack propagation in multiphase systems

Modeling of crack propagation in materials has long been a challenge in solid-state physics and materials science. The phase-field method has now established as one of the tools for the description of crack propagation. The applied models are thermodynamically consistent and predict crack propagation in homogeneous materials under the consideration of different loading types, multiple physical fields and geometrical nonlinearities. Even dynamic loading processes are studied, including plastic effects. A multiphase-field model for crack propagation, which is indispensable to describe crack propagation on a mesoscopic length scale, is still missing. In this work, we overcome this deficiency and combine a crack propagation approach, which is based on Griffith's theory, with an established multiphase-field model for phase transformation.