QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY AND FRACTURE-MECHANICS CHARACTERIZATION

In many fracture situations, the quantification of fractography may be useful in linking idealized fracture mechanics models of cracks with experimental studies of fracture. The specific applications demonstrated herein derive their mathematical basis from an earlier theory of stereology of fracture derived by the author and consisting of twelve basic theorems dealing with areal, lineal, volumetric, and feature count analyses of fractures. Correlations are established between some basic measures of fracture resistance under either monotonic or cyclic loading for five areas of practical interest. The basic postulate made here is that the micromechanisms of fracture affect the measures of fracture resistance, leaving characteristic information to be derived from the fracture topography, the plastic zone, acoustic emissions and heat. Such information, if adequately collected and correctly interpreted, may be useful in failure interpretation and prevention. In combination with probabilistic fracture mechanics, this information will pave the way toward predictive quantitative fractography. © 1990 TMS.