Chemistry and Physics of Fracture

For many years it has been recognized that engineering materials that are-tough and ductile can be rendered susceptible to premature fracture through their reaction with the environment. Over 100 years ago, Reynolds associated hydrogen with detrimental effects on the ductility of iron. The "season cracking" of brass has been a known problem for dec ades, but the mechanisms for this stress-corrosion process are only today being elucidated. In more recent times, the mechanical properties of most engineering materials have been shown to be adversely affected by hydrogen embrittlement or stress-corrosion cracking. Early studies of environmental effects on crack growth attempted to identify a unified theory to explain the crack growth behavior of groups of materials in a variety of environments. It is currently understood that there are numerous stress-corrosion processes some of which may be common to several materials, but that the crack growth behavior of a given material is dependent on microstructure, microchemistry, mechanics, surface chemistry, and solution chemistry. Although the mechanism by which various chemical species in the environment may cause cracks to propagate in some materials but not in others is very complex, the net result of all environmentally induced fracture is the reduction in the force and energy associated with the tensile or shear separation of atoms at the crack tip.