Brittle Fracture
AimsBefore you startIntroductionWhen do atomic bonds break?Why do cracks weaken a material?Inglis and the crack tip stress ideaCan we calculate the energy changes?What about tension?Another way of expressing the energiesAnother way of calculating the energiesWhy bother if they are the same?Coping with a scatter in strengthSimulation of Weibull modulus experimentWhen does the sample fail completely?Sub-critical crack growth and R-curvesSummaryQuestionsGoing furtherTLP creditsTLP contentsShow all contentViewing and downloading resourcesAbout the TLPsTerms of useFeedbackCredits Print this page
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Aims
On completion of this TLP you should understand:
- that materials break by cracking;
- what determines whether a material will crack or not;
- what determines whether cracking is catastrophic or more gradual;
- the concepts of the fracture energy, strain energy release rate, fracture toughness and stress intensity factor.