It was recalled that a Zener-Stroh crack was formed by a dislocation pile-up, and was therefore a net dislocation loaded crack. In a displacement loading approach, only one of the 2 crack tips was sharp. Crack propagation was possible along only the sharp tip. When a Zener-Stroh crack was initiated in an interface, this sharp crack tip could be closed; due to the material mismatch and loading combination. An interfacial Zener-Stroh crack was analyzed here with regard to a crack-tip contact zone. It was found that the contact zone size, which depended upon the ratio of dislocation gliding to climbing, could be quite large even when the loading was not shear-dominant.

Contact Zone in an Interfacial Zener-Stroh Crack H.Fan, Y.M.Sun, Z.M.Xiao: Mechanics of Materials, 1998, 30[2], 151-9