Experiment shows how water-filled channels crisscrossing multi-crystal ice lead to fractures

A combined team of materials scientists and engineers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Yale University, has shown via lab experiment, how water-filled channels crisscrossing multi-crystal ice can lead to fractures in materials such as cement and asphalt. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the group describes the experiments they conducted with transparent objects, water and silicone, to show how liquid channels in ice can lead to fractures in porous materials.