From a leading expert in fracture mechanics, this text provides new approaches and new applications to advance the understanding of crack formation and propagation.

A complete and comprehensive theory of failure is developed for homogeneous and isotropic materials. The full range of materials types are covered from very ductile metals to extremely brittle glasses and minerals. Two failure properties suffice to predict the general failure conditions under all states of stress. With this foundation to build upon, many other aspects of failure are also treated, such as extensions to anisotropic fiber composites, cumulative damage, creep and fatigue, and microscale and nanoscale approaches to failure.

This book presents the theoretical concepts of stress and strain, as well as the strengthening and fracture mechanisms of engineering materials in an accessible level for non-expert readers, but without losing scientific rigor. This volume fills the gap between the specialized books on mechanical behavior, physical metallurgy and material science and engineering books on strength of materials, structural design and materials failure. Therefore it is intended for college students and practicing engineers that are learning for the first time the mechanical behavior and failure of engineering materials or wish to deepen their understanding on these topics. The book includes specific topics seldom covered in other books, such as: how to determine a state of stress, the relation between stress definition and mechanical design, or the theory behind the methods included in industrial standards to assess defects or to determine fatigue life. The emphasis is put into the link between scientific knowledge and practical applications, including solved problems of the main topics, such as stress and strain calculation. Mohr's Circle, yield criteria, fracture mechanics, fatigue and creep life prediction. The volume covers both the original findings in the field of mechanical behavior of engineering materials, and the most recent and widely accepted theories and techniques applied to this topic. At the beginning of some selected topics that by the author's judgement are transcendental for this field of study, the prime references are given, as well as a brief biographical semblance of those who were the pioneers or original contributors. Finally, the intention of this book is to be a textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses on Mechanical Behavior, Mechanical Metallurgy and Materials Science, as well as a consulting and/or training material for practicing engineers in industry that deal with mechanical design, materials selection, material processing, structural integrity assessment, and for researchers that incursion for the first time in the topics covered in this book.

TRIBOLOGY – the study of friction, wear and lubrication – impacts almost every aspect of our daily lives. The Springer Encyclopedia of Tribology is an authoritative and comprehensive reference covering all major aspects of the science and engineering of tribology that are relevant to researchers across all engineering industries and related scientific disciplines. This is the first major reference that brings together the science, engineering and technological aspects of tribology of this breadth and scope in a single work. Developed and written by leading experts in the field, the Springer Encyclopedia of Tribology covers the fundamentals as well as advanced applications across material types, different length and time scales, and encompassing various engineering applications and technologies. Exciting new areas such as nanotribology, tribochemistry and biotribology have also been included. As a six-volume set, the Springer Encyclopedia of Tribology comprises 1630 entries written by authoritative experts in each subject area, under the guidance of an international panel of key researchers from academia, national laboratories and industry. With alphabetically-arranged entries, concept diagrams and cross-linking features, this comprehensive work provides easy access to essential information for both researchers and practicing engineers in the fields of engineering (aerospace, automotive, biomedical, chemical, electrical, and mechanical) as well as materials science, physics, and chemistry.

Fracture Mechanics of Electromagnetic Materials provides a comprehensive overview of fracture mechanics of conservative and dissipative materials, as well as a general formulation of nonlinear field theory of fracture mechanics and a rigorous treatment of dynamic crack problems involving coupled magnetic, electric, thermal and mechanical field quantities. Thorough emphasis is placed on the physical interpretation of fundamental concepts, development of theoretical models and exploration of their applications to fracture characterization in the presence of magneto-electro-thermo-mechanical coupling and dissipative effects. Mechanical, aeronautical, civil, biomedical, electrical and electronic engineers interested in application of the principles of fracture mechanics to design analysis and durability evaluation of smart structures and devices will find this book an invaluable resource.