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Material failure theory is an interdisciplinary field of materials science and solid mechanics which attempts to predict the conditions under which solid materials fail under the action of external loads. The failure of a material is usually classified into brittle failure or ductile failure .
Some metals that are generally described as ductile include gold and copper, while platinum is the most ductile of all metals in pure form. [4] However, not all metals experience ductile failure as some can be characterized with brittle failure like cast iron. Polymers generally can be viewed as ductile materials as they typically allow for ...
Failures caused by brittle fracture have not been limited to any particular category of engineered structure. [5] Though brittle fracture is less common than other types of failure, the impacts to life and property can be more severe. [5] The following notable historic failures were attributed to brittle fracture:
The least brittle structural ceramics are silicon carbide (mainly by virtue of its high strength) and transformation-toughened zirconia. A different philosophy is used in composite materials, where brittle glass fibers, for example, are embedded in a ductile matrix such as polyester resin. When strained, cracks are formed at the glass–matrix ...
However, this assumption is quite restrictive for certain types of failure in structural steels though such steels can be prone to brittle fracture, which has led to a number of catastrophic failures. Linear-elastic fracture mechanics is of limited practical use for structural steels and Fracture toughness testing can be expensive.
These mechanisms can overlap in the brittle-ductile settings. Deformation mechanisms are commonly characterized as brittle , ductile , and brittle-ductile. The driving mechanism responsible is an interplay between internal (e.g. composition, grain size and lattice-preferred orientation) and external (e.g. temperature and fluid pressure) factors.
The brittle–ductile transition zone is characterized by a change in rock failure mode, at an approximate average depth of 10–15 km (~ 6.2–9.3 miles) in continental crust, below which rock becomes less likely to fracture and more likely to deform ductilely. The zone exists because as depth increases confining pressure increases, and ...
Brittle failure occurs with little to no plastic deformation before fracture. An example of this would be stretching a clay pot or rod, when it is stretched it will not neck or elongate, but merely break into two or more pieces. While applying a tensile stress to a ductile material, instead of immediately breaking the material will instead ...