The Blender Tutor shows how to use cloth dynamics to create a disintegration effect.

One way you could use to create a disintegration effect is by employing cloth dynamics, and another is to use particles. Have a look at this new tutorial from the Blender Tutor, Thomas Latvys, that shows how to make a destruction effect using Blender’s Cloth. The tutorial also makes use of a few easy modifiers to gain control over the effect.