Multiscale modeling of amorphous glasses

We develop a critical-state model of fused silica plasticity on the basis of data mined from molecular dynamics (MD) calculations. The MD data is suggestive of an irreversible densification transition in volumetric compression resulting in permanent, or plastic, densification upon unloading. We show that these characteristic behaviors are well-captured by a critical state model of plasticity, where the densification law for glass takes the place of the classical consolidation law of granular media and the locus of constant volume states denotes the critical-state line. A salient feature of the critical-state line of fused silica, as identified from the MD data, that renders its yield behavior anomalous is that it is strongly non-convex, owing to the existence of two well-differentiated phases at low and high pressures. We argue that this strong non-convexity of yield explains the patterning that is observed in molecular dynamics calculations of amorphous solids deforming in shear. We employ an explicit and exact construction to upscale the microscopic critical-state model to the macroscale. Remarkably, owing to the equilibrium constraint the resulting effective macroscopic behavior is still characterized by a non-convex critical-state line. Despite this lack of convexity, the effective macroscopic model is stable against microstructure formation. We extend the study of the inelastic behavior of silica glass to include the effect of many different temperatures, pressures, and strain rates using MD and maximum entropy atomistics calculations. Owing to the temperature dependence of the model, the macroscopic model becomes unstable against adiabatic shear localization. Thus, the material adopts small inter-facial regions where the shear strain is extremely high. We characterize the shear band size, thereby predicting a yield knockdown factor at the macroscale, and compare the results to behavior reported in flyer plate impact experiments.