The late Professor John Knott OBE FRS FREng generously donated his seminal book, Fundamentals of Fracture Mechanics, to the UK Forum for Structural Integrity so that it might be distributed free of charge to colleagues and friends, and visitors to our website.
This is an important addition to the bookshelves of those metallurgists and engineers who are striving to produce stronger and more durable constructions and materials, as well as being essential reading for final year materials science and engineering students.
The development in recent years of the science and practice of macroscopic fracture mechanics has provided engineers and metallurgists with a method for designing against fracture in structural components in a more quantitative way than can be achieved using traditional toughness testing techniques. With the inclusion of fracture toughness testing in BSI and ASTM documents the time is approaching when fracture toughness values will appear in many material quality specifications. Designers, testers, inspectors and insurers will then be faced with the problems of understanding and appreciating these values, and students will be required to learn their relevance to the production of tough materials.
Clearly, the need has arisen for a book which explains the theoretical basis of fracture mechanics and its practical applications, and the author has sought to satisfy the need in this volume.
The text deals mainly with the macromechanics of fracture. However, consideration is given also to microscopic aspects, particularly with regard to the use of models which are devised to show why cracks propagate and voids coalesce at particular stresses or strains. Notched bars and crack tip phenomena are discussed in considerable detail, as are fracture toughness testing methods and the cleavage-fibrous transition.
The text is illustrated throughout and there are abundant references to the relevant research papers. The quantitative treatment of fracture has inevitably required a mathematical approach; however, the author has attempted to confine this to a minimum.
Fundamentals of Fracture Mechanics
The Winter 2018 issue of The FESI Bulletin contains a full obituary of John Knott along with appreciations by Brian Tomkins, Chairman of FESI, and by Robert Ainsworth, Chairman of TAGSI.