Abstract
Griffith was the first to offer an explanation for brittle fracture. He postulated that in a brittle material, cracks propagate when the released strain energy is just sufficient to provide the surface energy for the creation of new surfaces. That is elastic strain energy per unit volume = σ2/2E, where σ = stress applied perpendicular to the crack, E = modulus of elasticity. Very near to the crack faces the stress falls to zero and very far from the crack it is unchanged, so we assume that roughly an area of radius C around the crack is relieved of its elastic energy.
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Further Reading
Duggan, T.V., and Byrne, J., Fatigue as a Design Criterion (Macmillan Press, 1977)
Knott, J.F., Fundamentals of Fracture Mechanics (Butterworth, 1973)
Lawn, B.R., and Wilshaw, T.R., Fracture of Brittle Solids (Cambridge University Press, 1975)
Liebowitz, H., (ed.) Fracture — An Advanced Treatise, 7 vols (Academic Press, 1969–72)
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© 1981 Gladius Lewis
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Lewis, G. (1981). Fracture and Fracture Mechanics. In: Properties of Engineering Materials. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05837-2_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05837-2_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-05839-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-05837-2
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