Fatigue and Fracture: Understanding the Basics

Fatigue and Fracture: Understanding the Basics provides a comprehensive review of the fatigue and fracture behaviors of engineering materials and an introduction to the predictive capabilities of fracture mechanics. The book is roughly divided into three equal sections, the first of which covers the mechanical properties of materials, ductile and brittle fracture, the basic principles of fatigue, and the fundamentals of linear elastic and elastic-plastic fracture mechanics. The section that follows discusses the fatigue and fracture behaviors of iron and steel, aluminum and titanium alloys, ceramics, polymers, polymer-matrix composites, mechanical fasteners, and welded joints. The final section provides application-oriented information on topics such as fracture control, damage tolerance analysis, fatigue-life prediction and improvement techniques, the effect of corrosion, heat, and wear, and the steps involved in the failure analysis process. For information on the print version, ISBN 978-1-61503-976-0, follow this link.