Efim A. Brener, H. Müller-Krumbhaar, and R. Spatschek

We discuss the stress relaxation in a uniaxially strained solid due to the coarsening of a system of parallel cracks. We emphasize similarities and differences of this process in comparison to Ostwald ripening in a first order phase transition. A conventional mean-field approximation breaks down and several independent length scales have to be taken into account. Strong elastic interactions between the cracks determine the growth behavior. We derive scaling laws for the coarsening of the different length scales involved and the time evolution of stress relaxation which finally leads to the equilibrium state of a fractured body.