Fracture

This chapter presents a comprehensive introduction of the fracture phenomena as the final stage of the mechanical behavior of engineering materials. It begins with the basic concepts of fracture, the classification of fractures from the engineering point of view and a brief description of the static fracture mechanisms, namely cleavage and micro-void growth and coalescence. The chapter continues with an introduction to fracture mechanics, starting with the analysis of cohesive strength and the Griffith analysis of brittle fracture, to continue with the Irwin’s linear elastic fracture mechanic approach, including the concepts of energy release rate, the R-Curve, the stress intensity factor, and fracture toughness, and finishing with an explanation of the Rice’s nonlinear fracture mechanics J-Integral and the Wells’ CTOD analysis. The previous ideas are used to present an introduction the fundamentals of structural integrity analysis. The final section of this chapter explains the significance and practical aspects of the Charpy impact test.