Some aspects of the Flow & Fracture of Metals in Test & Service

If we leave on one side these service failures into which chemical factors, wear or accidental damage have entered, with consequent reduction of section and heightening of stressing, the circumstances leading to failure can fairly be summarised by the truism that any component which breaks in service does so because it has been subjected to unsuitable and excessive stressing. It is implied that components which fail are unsuitably dimensioned to resist the service loading.On this basis engineering design would appear to be primarily a matter of making satisfactory use of a selected material of construction in the light of the known mechanical properties.