Cavitation is a common damage mechanism in soft solids. Here, we study this using a phase separation technique in stretched, elastic solids to controllably nucleate and grow small cavities by several orders of magnitude. The ability to make stable cavities of different sizes, as well as the huge range of accessible strains, allows us to systematically study the early stages of cavity expansion. Cavities grow in a scale-free manner, accompanied by irreversible bond breakage that is distributed around the growing cavity rather than being localized to a crack tip. Furthermore, cavities appear to grow at constant driving pressure. This has strong analogies with the plasticity that occurs surrounding a growing void in ductile metals. In particular, we find that, although elastomers are normally considered as brittle materials, small-scale cavity expansion is more like a ductile process. Our results have broad implications for understanding and controlling failure in soft solids.

空化是软固体中常见的损坏机制。在这里，我们使用相分离技术在拉伸的弹性固体中进行研究，以可控地成核并生长几个数量级的小空腔。制造不同尺寸的稳定空腔的能力以及大量可访问的应变使我们能够系统地研究空腔扩张的早期阶段。空腔以无尺度方式生长，伴随着不可逆的键断裂，该断裂分布在生长空腔周围，而不是局限于裂纹尖端。此外，空腔似乎在恒定的驱动压力下生长。这与延性金属中不断增长的空隙周围发生的可塑性有很强的相似性。特别是，我们发现，虽然弹性体通常被认为是脆性材料，但小规模的空腔膨胀更像是一个延性过程。我们的结果对于理解和控制软固体的失效具有广泛的意义。