Fracture toughness of soft materials with rate-independent hysteresis

The fracture toughness of soft elastomers or gels can be substantially enhanced by introducing various energy dissipation mechanisms into the bulk material. Bulk dissipation, manifested in the hysteresis of loading-unloading cycles, enables the formation of a dissipation zone around the crack tip that consumes most of the energy provided by the external loading to drive crack propagation, effectively increasing the fracture toughness. An...