On the stability of a biaxially stressed elastic material with a free surface under variations in surface shape (Q1897695)

The author studies the stability of a biaxially stressed elastic material with a free surface under the variations of surface shape. He assumes that the free energy of the stressed elastic material at constant temperature consists of the elastic strain energy of the material plus its surface free energy. Under the physical circumstances of high stress, high temperature and small size scale, such an elastic body can undergo a gradual change in the shape of its reference configuration through addition or rearangement of mass along its surface by condensation or diffusion. This also causes some changes in total free energy. In the case of a linear elastic half-space subjected to a general homogeneous state of initial stress, a relationship between the rate of change of free energy and the rate of change of surface shape is established in terms of geometrical parameters, initial stress, and material parameters. For a given fluctuation in surface shape, the condition discriminating between increasing and decreasing free energy is identified as a stability condition. This work is self-consistent and may find some readers working on stability theory.