ABSTRACT
Fracture of materials occurs almost everyday. Fracture can be either inconsequential or consequential depending upon the effect it has on our life. Breaking of a china dish, pencil leads, glass of a window, tearing of a notched lid of a cola, etc., can be cast in the first category. However, fracture of a cup during the drawing operation, armor penetration of tanks, crash of an automobile, grounding of ships, tearing of pipelines and aircraft fuselages, etc., are some examples where the fracture is often accompanied by huge economic loss and leads to loss of human life. This type of fracture can be classified into the consequential type. It is this type of fracture that requires considerable investigation. What causes the fracture of engineering structures through formation and propagation of cracks should be known. Also, with the development of new and advanced materials, more investigation is needed.
