Conclusion
Measuring tenacity tests - Mechanical fracture

Fracture mechanics provides values for toughness, intrinsic critical parameters which, once determined using tests on specimens, enable us to predict the behavior of a crack in a part under load. In linear elasticity, this transposition of results is rigorously exact. Knowing (figure 1) the location and dimensions of a defect in the part and the material toughness K_Ic enables us to calculate the critical load, by determining K_I and equating it to K_Ic (or, knowing the load, to determine the size of the critical defect). However, this application of fracture mechanics in linear elasticity comes up against limitations on specimen and part size, which can be prohibitive...