Stress Development Up To Crack Formation in Drying Paste

Abstract

We investigate the development of stresses in a drying process of paste-like materials theoretically and experimentally. An invasion percolation model on a nonlinear elastic lattice can describe cracking processes resulting from drying contraction as well as dry processes in the bulk of the system and gives a non-dimensional parameter to determine the conditions at which cracking precedes drying. This model also predicts that horizontal tensions increase isotropically with drying. However, paste often exhibits anisotropic crack formation due to plasticity, as is known as the memory effect. We measured stresses in a drying process of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) paste and confirmed that anisotropy in residual stress increases with uniform drying until crack formation when shaking is applied to a paste layer for a short time initially.