ABSTRACT
Environmentally enhanced crack growth occurs in brittle materials when atomic bonds at a crack tip are ruptured at stresses below their inherent bond strength due to the presence of a chemical environment. Such bond rupture has important repercussions in terms of lifetime predictions and reliability considerations. In this chapter we will discuss what is understood of the mechanisms involved in environmental attack and how investigations of the process are moving from interpretations of experimental crack growth results to detailed calculations of environmental-molecule/strained-crack-tip-bond systems.
