Brittleness of materials: implications for composites and a relation to impact strength

• Published in: Journal of materials science Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 242 - 250
• Main Authors: Brostow, Witold, Hagg Lobland, Haley E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 2010; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alloys; Brittleness; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Classical Mechanics; Composite materials industry; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Dimensional stability; Economic impact; Elongation; Fatigue (materials); Fatigue failure; Hardness; Impact analysis; Impact strength; Industrial applications; Joints; Materials Science; Mechanical tests; Polymer industry; Polymer matrix composites; Polymer Sciences; Polymers; Production processes; Scratching; Service life; Solid Mechanics; Surface properties; Thermoplastic resins; Thermoplastics; Viscoelastic materials; Viscoelasticity; Wear; Impact Strength; Dynamic Mechanical Analysis; Storage Modulus; PMMA; Free Volume
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-009-3926-5

Brittleness of materials—whether it occurs naturally or with aging—affects significantly performance and manifests itself in various properties. In the past, brittleness was defined qualitatively, but now a definition of brittleness for viscoelastic materials exists, enabling analysis of all types of polymer-based materials. The quantity brittleness,
B
, has been evaluated for neat thermoplastics, but here composites and metal alloys are also assessed. The physical significance of brittleness is connected to the dimensional stability of materials. The connections of brittleness to tensile elongation and to fatigue are explored while its relationship to surface properties—specifically wear by repetitive scratching—is examined more closely. The economic impact of wear results in monetary loss associated with failure and reduced service life of plastic parts—thus its connection to brittleness finds use across a broad spectrum of industrial applications which utilize plastics for manufacturing, processing, etc. We also demonstrate a correspondence between impact strength (Charpy or Izod) and brittleness of polymers. It is shown that the assumption hardness is equivalent to brittleness is inaccurate; this fact has important implications for interpreting the results of mechanical testing of viscoelastic materials.