Understanding how materials will interact with their environment is crucial when selecting components for engineering applications. To help inform material selection, geologists must comprehend the chemical reactions between minerals and groundwater along fault lines, as these interactions can gradually weaken rocks and lead to sudden mechanical failures.
A recent study, led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in collaboration with Sandia’s Earth Science LDRD program and Bucknell University, reveals that the deformation of muscovite mica—an abundant mineral composed of flaky layers that are each flat down to the atomic level—is influenced by the mineral’s surface condition (dry, submersed in deionized water and in salt solutions with a pH of 9.8 and 12) when under stress. Under various mechanical loads, the mica deformation follows the same statistical patterns as seen in earthquakes and avalanches.
This study demonstrates that scientists could use statistical models already in place for earthquakes when testing material failure and more quickly obtain the same results as when high-powered, detailed simulation models are employed. It also provides materials scientists with a means for assessing how environmental factors can affect the durability of materials used in advanced solar panels, geological carbon sequestration, and critical infrastructure used daily by the public.
Results on the work were recently published in Nature Communications.
Sandia experts linked to work
- Bill Mook, Microsystems Engineering, Science and Applications Center
- Frank DelRio, Material, Physical, and Chemical Sciences Center
- Anastasia Ilgen, Geochemistry Department
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Publications
Sickle, J. J., Mook, W. M., DelRio, F. W., & et al. (2024, November). Quantifying chemomechanical weakening in muscovite mica with a simple micromechanical model. Nature Communications.
Rimsza, J. & Ilgen, A. Water weakening of calcium oxide. (2022, May)J. Phys. Chem. C.