FRACTAL CRACK PATTERNS IN LAPONITE FILMS AND THEIR SCALING BEHAVIOR.

We study crack patterns in laponite films of different thickness. The patterns show a self-similarity under coarse-graining, the fractal dimension determined by box-counting has a value around 1.66, independent of film thickness. The cracks on layers of different thickness show a remarkable scaling bahavior. We have measured the cumulative area covered by the cracks versus minimum crack-width resolved. Curves representing crack area for different thickness collapse onto a single curve, when the crack widths are scaled by the film thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]