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Brittle cleavage fracture: An overview of some historical aspects

Conference ·
OSTI ID:293110
 [1]
  1. Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

Many aspects of cleavage fracture were not well understood by the mid-1950s when George R. Irwin coined the term Fracture Mechanics. This discussion will attempt to relate some of the common concepts and misconceptions of that period. The leadership of Dr. Irwin in developing new concepts and methods for clarifying the understanding of brittle fracture will be emphasized here. An essential part of the progress made was to bring together the Engineering Mechanics, Metallurgy, and Physics of the subject into a reasoned balance in trying to further understand the nature of the phenomena. This is illustrated by recalling some of the personalities of that time period and their concepts and claims and how they interacted to make progress toward today`s state of knowledge. Indeed today`s closer ties between fields such as mechanics and metallurgy were in part caused by these requirements of analysis of Brittle Cleavage Fracture.

OSTI ID:
293110
Report Number(s):
CONF-970980--; ISBN 0-87339-381-3
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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