It was noted that a loss of mechanical stability was a general phenomenon that lay behind a wide variety of features of the behaviour of crystalline materials. An instability criterion was presented here that was of general applicability; subject to a restriction to low temperatures. The criterion was applied to two situations: hydrostatically-induced cavitation and quasi-brittle crack growth due to mode-I loading. As judged from the results of independent molecular statics simulations, the predictions of the criterion were found to be quite accurate.

A Local Instability Criterion for Solid-State Defects. T.J.Delph, J.A.Zimmerman, J.M.Rickman, J.M.Kunz: Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 2009, 57[1], 67-75