DoITPoMS - TLP Library Brittle Fracture

Brittle Fracture

This teaching and learning package (TLP) describes how and why materials break.

	Aims Before you start Introduction When do atomic bonds break? Why do cracks weaken a material? Inglis and the crack tip stress idea Can we calculate the energy changes? What about tension? Another way of expressing the energies Another way of calculating the energies Why bother if they are the same? Coping with a scatter in strength When does the sample fail completely? Sub-critical crack growth and R-curves Summary Questions Going further

First created: 19 August 2009. Last updated: 17 February 2011.