Fracture Mechanics : a General Review with its Links to Fractography

Fracture Mechanics, also known as "crack mechanics" allows designers and failure analysts to evaluate the risk of crack propagation due to complex stress states in given design situation. Highly useful in situation of triaxial states of stresses, in case of hard, brittle, unconventional materials, or in complex geometries and thick parts, fracture mechanics traduces what could be revealed by fractography after the crack mechanism has occurred. From theory of elasticity to the J Integral, from fracture toughness KIc to critical tip opening displacement CTOD, from Griffith and his glas fracture experiments to its modern usage in mechanical and structural engineering, this talks will be a review of the basics, the historical background and the modern applications of fracture mechanics. A parallel with fractography will be shown.