Mapping the fracture properties of engineering materials

Abstract

Among Alan Cottrell’s many extraordinary talents was that of an inspirational teacher. He had a masterful ability to explain the underlying physics of the Science of Materials and at the same time to simplify and to present the big picture. His teaching-texts live on, still among the clearest and most insightful expositions of the subject. This paper surveys part of one of the fields to which he contributed so much – Fracture – with education and the big picture in mind.

Keywords:

• fracture
• strength
• strain

Notes

1. All the charts in this paper were created with the CES EduPack [10] Materials Selection software.

2. If the wall is sufficiently thin, and close to general yield, it will fail in a plane-stress mode. Then the relevant fracture toughness is that for plane stress, not the smaller value for plane strain.