On the anti-plane shear of an elliptic nano inhomogeneity

The elastic field of an elliptic nano inhomogeneity embedded in an infinite matrix under anti-plane shear is studied with the complex variable method. The interface stress effects of the nano inhomogeneity are accounted for with the Gurtin-Murdoch model. The conformal mapping method is then applied to solve the formulated boundary value problem. The obtained numerical results are compared with the existing closed form solutions for a circular nano inhomogeneity and a traditional elliptic inhomogeneity under anti-plane. It shows that the proposed semi-analytic method is effective and accurate. The stress fields inside the inhomogeneity and matrix are then systematically studied for different interfacial and geometrical parameters. It is found that the stress field inside the elliptic nano inhomogeneity is no longer uniform due to the interface effects. The shear stress distributions inside the inhomogeneity and matrix are size dependent when the size of the inhomogeneity is on the order of nanometers. The numerical results also show that the interface effects are highly influenced by the local curvature of the interface. The elastic field around an elliptic nano hole is also investigated in this paper. It is found that the traction free boundary condition breaks down at the elliptic nano hole surface. As the aspect ratio of the elliptic hole increases, it can be seen as a Mode-III blunt crack. Even for long blunt cracks, the surface effects can still be significant around the blunt crack tip. Finally, the equivalence between the uniform eigenstrain inside the inhomogeneity and the remote loading is discussed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.