Formation of crack networks in drying laponite films

Experiments have been conducted to study crack patterns forming in drying films of laponite. The patterns have been analysed to observe the self-similarity of the structure, with respect to crack width. Ped-size distributions and other features are also studied. We coarse-grain the pattern, retaining cracks up to a certain minimum width. The area covered by the cracks, when plotted on a log-log plot, versus the lowest crack width observable shows two linear regimes. An idealized model is suggested to reproduce the principal characteristics of the hierarchical crack pattern. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.