Materials Science, VoL 3/, No.

5, 1995

HISTORY OF FRACTURE MECHANICS

ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF G. R. IRWIN TO FRACTURE MECHANICS

S. Ya. Yarema

This is a brief survey of the scientific biography and works of George Rankine Irwin (born on February
26, 1907 in El Paso, Texas)--outstanding American scientist in the field of fracture mechanics and
strength of materials, a Member of the American National Academy of Engineering, Royal Society of
London, an Honorary Member and winner of prizes and awards of many American and European scien-
title societies. G. R. Irwin attended and graduated from Knox College and the University of Illinois
where he won his Ph.D. degree. From 1936 till 1967, he worked .in the US Naval Research Laboratory
and in 1972, he became a Professor of Lehigh University and the University of Maryland where he now
works. On the basis of his own experiments and the remits of other researchers, G. R. Irwin suggested
fundamentally new modification of the Griffith theory of brittle fracture and generalized this theory to
the ease of quasibrittle materials (see [2] and subsequent works). He introduced the concept of effective
surface energy (1) and reformulated the Griffith theory in terms of singular stresses at the crack front and
proved that his approach is equivalent to the Griffith energy approach [8]. He introdueexl stress inten-
sity factors, i.e., parameters which relate the local mochanieal state near the crack tip to macroscopic
characteristics (such as the geometry of a body and loading) and enable one to give a very simple de-
scription of fracture processes as a eoutinuous process of stable crack growth up to the onset of in-
stability. His ideas very important for practical use and subsequent works devoted to their improvement
and development caused a decisive influence on the progress in fracture mechanics as a new science and
powerful engineering tool applicable to numerous problems connected with manufacturing and
processing of materials and their failureproof operation in critical structures of various materials. By his
works, Irwin initiated investigation of various aspects of the theory of fracture such as the role of
plasticity, dynamics of the process, fractographie analysis of crack growth, etc. He also gave much at-
tention to the development of new test methods for the determination of the characteristics of crack-
growth resistance of structural materials and their application. In recognition of lrwin's fundamental
contribution to fracture mechanics, its fundamentals are now called the Griffith-lrwin theory (concept).
A list of selected works by G. R. Irwin is given at the end of the present paper.

George Rankine Irwin was born on February 26, 1907 in El Paso (Texas). In 1930, he graduated from Knox
College (Galesburg, Illinois), where he studied English philology and physics, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts
(B.A.). G.R. Irwin continued his education at the University of Illinois (Urbana) where he accomplished his first
research works and won his M.A. in 1935 and his Ph.D. in physics in 1937. At the same time, in 1935-1936, he
taught physics at Knox College.
In 1937, G. R. Irwin started his thirty-year scientific career in the US Naval Research Laboratory (Washington).
In 1938, he headed the Ballistics Group. At that time, his scientific interests were focused on the impact penetration
of bodies and, in particular, bullet damages to the skin of the aircraft. He developed a method for measuring varia-
tions in penetration forces and n e w b u l l e t p r o o f n o n m e t a l l i c m a t e r i a l s which were then e x t e n s i v e l y used in m i l i t a r y
e n g i n e e r i n g . H i s scientific a c h i e v e m e n t s in this field w e r e c l a s s i f i e d as secret and b e c a m e p a r t i a l l y k n o w n m u c h
later [ I L l

i Italic numbers in brackets refer to the list of selected works of G. R. Irwin, whereas roman numbers refer to the list of reference cita-
tions.

Karpenko Physicomechanical Institute, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, L'viv. Translated from Fiziko-Khimicheskaya Mekhanika Mate-
rialov, Vol. 31, No. 5, pp. 77-86, September-October, 1995. Original article submitted October 21, 1995.

1068-820X/95/3105-0617 $12.50 © 1997 Plenum Publishing Corporation 617

618 S. YA. YAREMA

Irwin's interest to brittle fracture was initiated by his observations of cracking in shot thick armor plates. He
understood that the experimental data disagree with the high plasticity of the material of armor plates discovered in
testing Charpy specimens for impact toughness. Irwin explained this disagreement by the loading rate and the di-
mensional effect, attributed by him to high gradients of stresses near the crack tips.
Later, on analyzing shipwrecks and failures of tanks and aircrafts caused by propagation of cracks under
stresses lower than the yield limit of the material, Irwin began to investigate the macroscopic characteristics of frac-
ture surfaces in broken specimens by simulating the succession of events in the process of crack growth [3, 5].
Since that time, all his investigations are devoted to the theory of fracture.
The theory of brittle fracture appeared as the theory of limiting equilibrium of elastic bodies with cracks. To
determine the fracture load (more precisely, the load required for crack initiation), A. A. Griffith, in his pioneer work
[1], made the following basic assumption: A crack propagates if the potential strain energy of the body 8W re-
leased in this process is sufficient to compensate the energy required for the formation of new ~uffaces~ i:~.,

8W= ySA, (l)

where "t is the specific surface energy and 5A is an increment in the area of the top and lmttom .suri~ces of the
crack. In other words, the rate of release of the strain energy (relative to the increment in the area of the crack) must
be equal (more precisely, greater or equal) to the specific surface energy:

8W
= "¢" (2)

He deduced a formula for the determination of the breaking load Pc for an elastic plate with crack.of'length 2a
subjected at infinity to the action of uniformly distributed forces p perpendicular to t h e ~ a c k

Pc = 1/ (3)

where E I = E for the plane stressed state and E I = E/( 1 - Ix2) for the case of plane defor~rlation, E is the Young
modulus, and l.t is the Poisson ratio.
However, it was soon discovered that values of Pe calculated according to this formula by using theoretically
predicted values of ~' are much lower than the experimental data, although the shape of the dependence of Pc on a
was predicted satisfactorily. Moreover, the X-ray analysis [2] demonstrates that even for absolutely brittle crack
growth (as to its macroscopic features), the layers of the metal lying on the fracture surface undergo plastic defor-
mation. These arguments made doubtful the applicability of the Griffith theory to structural materials. Furthermore,
the necessity of computing the potential energy of the body which is a very complicated and laborious task even for
simple shapes of structural elements and loads applied to these elements made its constructive application absolutely
impossible. G. R. Irwin managed to overcome these difficulties, which is probably one of his most important results.
In his first work devoted to the analysis of this problem [2]. on the basis of his own observations of the pro-
cess of quasibrittle fracture and results of other researchers, Irwin proposed (independently of E. Orowan [3], as
indicated in [8]) to add to the specific surface energy y in Eqs. ( l ) - (3) the work of plastic deformation yp in
small zones in front of the crack related to a unit area of the newly formed surface. Depending on the material and
conditions, the magnitude of y p may vary from values comparable with y to values larger by two or even three
orders of magnitude. The sum obtained as a result

Yeff = Y + Yp (4)

is known as the "effective surface energy" or "specific energy of fracture." It is no longer a characteristic of the
material (as),) but remains very useful for practical purposes.
ON THE CONTRIBtrrioN OF G. R. IRWIN TO FRACTURE MECHANICS 619

A fundamental contribution to the formation of fracture mechanics was made by Irwin's work [8] "Analysis of
stresses and strains near the end of a crack traversing a plate." In this work, he presented both known and his own
(obtained by the method of Westergaard [4]) distributions of stresses in an elastic plate with crack or periodically
located collinear cracks subjected to the action of uniform tensile stresses or concentrated forces applied to the crack
lips and perpendicular to the crack(s). By generalizing the facts, Irwin shows that the principal (singular) part of any
component of the stress tensor in a small vicinity of the crack tip

1
% = fij(o), (5)

where f/j(0) is a function of the polar angle 0 and r is the distance of a given point from the crack tip, exhibit the
same dependence on coordinates and differ only by the constant factor E.~-~IG, which was named by him the stress
intensity factor and denoted in subsequent works by K. Thus, like many other researchers, he reproduced the for-
gotten 50-year-old results of K. Wieghardt [5] having absolutely no prior knowledge of them. Irwin did not stop at
this stage but generalized these results by computing the work of elastic forces in the course of virtual closure (and,
hence, opening) of the crack along a small interval of length a drawn from its tip. He showed that this work is
equal to aG. Since the indicated opening can occur only in the case where the quantity G attains its critical value
G c and the work of opening can be compensated by the potential strain energy of the plate released in this process,
in view of relation (1), one can readily obtain

G c - - Ke2 = 2 T. (6)
el

Irwin proved that the energy (Griffith) approach is equivalent to the strength approach to the analysis of frac-
ture processes in linearly elastic bodies. This enabled him to replace the laborious and, at that time, practically unre-
alizable (even for rather simple loads and shapes of bodies and cracks) numerical calculation of strain energy by a
much simpler (and customary in strength analysis) procedure of evaluation of the singular part of the stresses whose
distribution law is known a priori.
It should be especially noted that the introduction of the quantities G and K as fracture parameters was ex-
tremely important for the theory of fracture [Irwin interpreted these quantities as the crack-driving force (in general-
ized Lagrange's sense)] and the stress intensity factor, respectively. They are proportional to the load and attain
their critical values at the time of crack initiation. Thus, unlike the Griffith theory, where fracture is instantaneous
and occurs as soon as condition (1) is satisfied, Irwin's approach makes it possible to describe fracture as a process
taking its precritical stage into account. These ideas were then used as a basis for the construction of the theory of
subcritical crack growth and, which is much more important, tlae mechanics of fatigue fracture.
In this and other works (e.g., [9]), Irwin analyzed the applicability of the theory of elasticity to the problem
under consideration and concluded that if the plastic zones near the crack tip are small as compared to the crack
length, then the influence of nonelastic strains on the value of G is relatively weak. Thus, under the conditions of
quasibrittle fracture and if, in addition, the nonstationary processes in the material (plastic yield, interaction with the
environment, structural transformations, etc.) and the influence of prehistory are weak, then one can describe the
mechanical situation in the prefracture zone near the crack tip by a single parameter G (or K) with reasonable ac-
curacy. This is explained by the fact that the crack-driving force relates (in a very simple way) the processes local-
ized in microscopic volumes to the external macroscopic parameters such as the geometry of a cracked body and
loading.
In discussing the work [8], it was indicated that the stress intensity factor depends on the radius of curvature of
the tip of an open crack and the size of the Neuber particle. In this connection, McCiintock emphasized the impor-
tance of the fracture-process zone (this term was introduced by Irwin) destroyed by microdiscontinuities (cracks and
pores) and located in the middle of the plastic zone near the crack tip.
620 S. YA. YAREMA

A year later, in his longer paper "Fracture" [10] written for a physics handbook, Irwin presented a survey of
the most important achievements in this field. Thus, the second part was devoted to the analysis of the stress field
near the crack and the rates of its propagation and branching. In this work, he classified cracks according to the di-
rections of displacements of their lips in the vicinity of the crack tip or, equivalently, according to the formally attri-
buted macroscopic mechanisms of their virtual increments. At present, this classification is generally accepted.
This classification distinguishes the following types of cracks: opening displacement or tensile cracks (mode I
cracks), transverse (with respect to their front) shear cracks (mode II cracks), and longitudinal shear cracks (mode III
cracks). Thus, the stress-strain state of an isotropic body near an arbitrarily oriented crack under loads of all types
can be decomposed into three components. The first of these components is induced by the stress o n normal to the
crack surface. The other components are induced by the tangential stresses in the plane of the crack normal x n and
tangential x t to its front. These components determine, respectively, the parameters G 1, GIt, and G m, or Kl, Kn,
and Km that can be found as a result of the following limit transitions:

KI = ~ lim 4-rrt~n, gli = ~ lim 4-rrxn, and Kll! = ~ lim ~r't t. (7)
r-->O r-~O r-->O

Plastic strains which inevitably appear at the crack tip and, in fact, lead to the initiation of fracture processes
were thoroughly studied by G. R. Irwin. To take into account small plastic zones 2 in computing fracture toughness
(the critical stress intensity factor) according to the experimental data, Irwin suggested [13, 18] to add to the half
length of the internal crack a the quantity r r = Kc2 / (21to2), i.e., the distance from the tip to the point on the crack
line where the stresses computed according to formula (5) are equal to the yield limit or, This generally accepted
"Irwin correction" can be justified by analogy with longitudinal shear in elastic perfectly plastic cracked bodies. In
this case, the end of the crack is placed at the center of a round plastic zone with radius r Ili = g1211(2g't 2) [under
the condition thar x << x r, where x r is the yield (shear) stress] and stresses beyond this zone are given by the same
formulas as in the case of elastic bodies. Thus, in the case of undeveloped plasticity, it suffices to have a single pa-
rameter (namely, K) and all other characteristics of local fracture such as the area of the plastic zone, the crack tip
opening displacement ~5 [8 = K 2/(Elo2)], the level of strain EI at a certain distance p from the crack tip (e I =
K! 2 4 ~ / E), etc., can be expressed in terms of this parameter. As the plastic zones enlarge up to the general yield,
the problem becomes much more complicated because the process of fracture can no longer be characterized by a
single parameter and the relationships between the parameters listed above become ambiguous. This conclusion
was made by Irwin and McClintock on the basis of analysis performed in [22].
G. R. Irwin also gave much attention to the investigation of the dynamical aspects of the process of crack
growth. In his early work [2], he studied the initiation and arrest of crack propagation depending on the local stress
field. In [12, 23], Irwin and his coauthors recommended to determine the characteristics of crack-growth resistance
of materials at just the moments of crack initiation and arrest, anticipating that the values obtained as a result would
not coincide as can be explained by the different conditions realized at these moments in the prefracture zone. Note
that crack-growth resistance often drops to a certain minimum value immediately after the initiation of crack propa-
gation. Hence, the crack may be arrested only if the crack-driving force decreases to at least the same minimum val-
ue and, as a result, fracture toughness measured at the moment of crack arrest is lower than at the moment of crack
initiation. The effects of the loading rate and temperature on the kinetics of cracks manifest themselves via the
relevant changes in the plastic characteristics of the material. This also explains the experimentally established cor-
relation between the fracture toughness KIc and the coefficient of hardening [23]. Irwin also studied decelerated
fracture (subcritical crack growth) in active media and under variable (in particular, periodic) loads [25, 29].
In his works, Irwin always supposed that the strength of cracked structures is limited, on the one hand, by brittle
2 These zones are small as compared to crack length. At the same time, they can be comparable with the thickness of the specimen h
because, in what follows, we mainly consider sheet materials. As indicated by Irwin [14, 29], the quantity r r approximately determines
the transition from brittle rupture (direct fracture) for h > rr to plastic shear (oblique fracture) for h < rr provided that this transition takes
place.
ON THE CONTRIBUTIONOF G. R. IRWIN TO FRACTUREMECHANICS 621

fracture facilitated by high strain rates and large sizes of these structures (as compared to the lengths of the cracks)
and, on the other hand, by plastic fracture (the loss of resistance) for small sizes and at low rates.
As an engineer, Irwin understood the importance of fracture mechanics for the problems of design, manufactur-
ing, and operation of structures and studied practical aspects of fracture mechanics very carefully. In his works, he
always tries to examine the practical side of the problem under consideration.
To implement the methods and approaches of fracture mechanics to the engineering practice, it was necessary

to develop numerical methods for computing the parameters K and G for typical configurations of struc-
tural members (plates, sheets, beams, etc.) with cracks under typical loads;

to design experimental procedures aimed at the determination of the critical values of these parameters (at
the onset of instability), i.e., the characteristics of crack-growth resistance Ke (Ge) of the material, and

to check their applicability to the description of fracture processes and, hence, to the prediction of strength
and durability of structures.

Irwin initiated investigations in all these directions and obtained important results. In 1954, in his work written
together with Kies [6], he analyzed the strength of massive welded structures and deduced a formula for the eval-
uation of the stress intensity factor (crack-driving force) in terms of the pliability of the specimen ~, subjected to
tension by a force P in the presence of a propagating tensile crack

K 2 = GEl = Eip2u,~.n. (8)

2h da

This formula served as a basis for the most popular and simple experimental method for the determination of
the fracture parameter by measuring the elongation of specimens with cracks of various lengths a [in practice, with
narrow slits (notches or grooves)]. Irwin made an attempt to develop the procedure for the evaluation of these pa-
rameters according to the indications of strain gauges placed along the crack path [8] but later he understood [29]
that this method and the method of photoelasticity are inefficient because the error of determination of the required
parameters is too large (10-15%).
In [12], Irwin describes various specimens suitable for measuring the characteristics of crack-growth resis-
tance of materials, namely, plane and cylindrical specimens in which the initiated cracks spontaneously grow until
complete fracture of the specimens. At the same time, he drew the attention of researchers to specimens (such as
plates [12] and two-beam specimens [29]) in which cracks are wedged by the forces and stop automatically if the
external load is not increased.
On analyzing the solutions of the most simple problems, Irwin suggested convenient approximate formulas for
the determination of the stress intensity factors in numerous cases important in engineering practice, such as, e.g.,
the case of a surface crack in a plate whose contour is simulated by a half ellipse and in which the effect of the
boundaries is taken into account by special correction functions. He also studied the effect of the anisotropy of ma-
terials [24].
Numerous works of Irwin deal with the problems of general methodology and with the development and dis-
cussion of the methods aimed at the determination of the characteristics of crack-growth resistance of materials (see
the list of selected works).
G. R. Irwin not only works in this field intensely and fruitfully himself but also recruits new researchers for this
work. His successful collaboration with the Special Committee on Fracture Testing of High-Strength Metallic
Materials formed at the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) was reflected in five reports on the
activities of this Committee in 1959-1964 [6] which laid a solid foundation for experimental fracture mechanics.
Irwin combined his work in the Naval Research Laboratory with the position of Guest-Professor of the Ford
Foundation at the University of Illinois (1962). In 1967-1972, he worked as a Professor of Technical Mechanics at
the Lehigh University, and from 1972 to the present, at the University of Maryland. He teaches fracture mechanics
622 S. YA. YAREMA

included in the curricula of many American universities. He continues his own investigations in this field and works
as a coordinator of research into fracture mechanics in the USA in collaboration with the ASTM.
In conclusion, we must especially emphasize that, on the basis of the results of other researchers and his own
experiments, G. R. Irwin developed a fundamentally new modification of the Griffith theory which significantly ex-
tended its theoretical basis and promoted its extensive introduction into engineering practice. His ideas, extremely
important in practical applications, and his intense work aimed at their improvement and development were some of
the most important contributions to the birth of fracture mechanics as a science and a powerful engineering tool for
the solution of problems connected with the creation, processing, and safe operation of various high-strength
materials in critical structures. Thus, it is not surprising that Irwin is called the "Father of Fracture Mechanics." His
contribution is regarded as comparable to that of Griffith, the "Grandfather of Fracture Mechanics" [7], and the
Griffith-Irwin concept (theory) is generally accepted as fundamental for this theory.
The scientific achievements of G. R. Irwin are widely recognized by the world scientific and engineering com-
munity. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of
London, an Honorary Member of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the American Ce-
ramic Society, of the European Society of Intact Structures (ESIS), of the German Society of Testing (DVMP), and
many others. He was a winner of numerous prizes and awards, including the Nadai and Timoshenko Medals of the
American Society of Mechanics Engineers (ASME), the Gold medal of the American Society of Metals (ASM) for
outstanding contribution to science and engineering, the Big Medal of the French Society of Metallurgy, the Tet-
mayer Medal of the Technical University of Vienna, etc. The ASME and the University of Maryland established
special prizes named in honor of G. R. Irwin.

SELECTED PAPERS BY G. R. IRWIN

I. G.R. Irwin, "Penetration resistance measurements at ballistic speeds," in: Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress on
Applied Mechanics (1946).
2. G.R. Irwin, "Fracture dynamics," in: Proceedings of the ASM Symposium on Fracturing of Metals, Cleveland (Oh) (1948), pp. 147-
166.
3. J.A. Kies, A. M. Sullivan, and G. R. Irwin, "Interpretationof fracturemarkings," J. Appl. Phys., 21, No. 7, 716-720 (1950).
4. H.L. Smith, J. A. Kies, and G. R. Irwin, "Instability criterion for the fracture of solids," Amer. Phys. Soc. Meeting, New York,
(1952), Phys. Rev., 86, Febr., 623 (1952).
5. G.R. Irwin and J. A. Kies, "Fracturing and fracturedynamics," Weld. J. Res. Suppl., 31, No. 2, 95s-100s (1952).
6. G.R. Irwin and J. A. Kies, "Critical energy rate analysis of fracture strength of large welded structures," Weld. J. Res. Suppl., 33,
No. 4, 193s-198s (1952).
7. G.R. Irwin, "Onset of fast crack propagation in high-strength steel and aluminum alloys," in: Proceedings of the Sagamore Con-
ference on Strength Limitations of Metals, Vol. 2, SyracuseUniversityPress (1956), pp. 289-305.
8. G.R. Irwin, "Analysis of stresses and strain near the end of a crack traversing a plate," Trans. ASME. Ser. E: J. Appl. Mech., 24,
No. 3, 361-364 (1957), "Discussion,"J. Appl. Mech., 25, No. 2, 299-303 (1958).
9. G.R. Irwin, "Relation of stresses near a crack to the crack extension force," in: Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on
Applied Mechanics, Vol. 8, Paper No. 101 (11),Universityof Brussels (1957), pp. 245-25 I.
10. G.R. Irwin, "Fracture," in: Handbuch der Physik, Vol. 6, Springer, Berlin (1958), pp. 551-590.
11. G.R. Irwin, The Crack Extension Force for a Crack at a Free Surface Boundary, NPL Report No. 5120 (I 958).
12. G.R. Irwin, J. A. Kies, and H. L. Smith, "Fracture strength relative to onset and arrest of crack propagation," Proc. Amer. Soc. Test.
Mater., 58, 640-657 (1958).
13. G.R. Irwin, "Plastic zone near a crack and fracture toughness," in: Proceedings of the 7th Sagamore Ordnance Materials Research
Conference, Vol. 4, Syracuse UniversityPress (1960), pp. 63-78.
14. G.R. Irwin, "Fracture mode transition for a crack traversing a plate," Trans. ASME. Ser. D: J. of Basic Eng., 82, 417-425 (1960).
15. G.R. Irwin, "Fracture mechanics," in: Proceedings of the First Symposium. on Naval Structural Mechanics (1958), Pergamon
Press, London-New York (1960), pp. 557-594.
16. G.R. Irwin, Fracture Testing of High-Strength Sheet Materials under Condition Appropriate for Stress Analysis, NRL Report
No. 5486 (1960).
17. G.R. Irwin, "Crack extension force for a part-through crack in a plate," Trans. ASME. Set. E: J. Appl. Mech., 29, No. 4, 651-654
(1962).
ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF G. R. IRWIN TO FRACTURE MECHANICS 623

18. G.R. Irwin, "Relation of crack toughness measurement and practical applications," Weld. J. Res. Suppl., 41, No. 11,519s (1962).
19. G.R. Irwin, "Crack toughness testing of strain rate sensitive materials," Trans. ASME. Ser. A: J. Eng. Power, 86, No. 4 (1964).
20. G.R. Irwin and J. E. Srawley, "Progress in the development of crack toughness fracture tests," Materialpriifung, 4, No. 1, I-I I
(1962).
21. G.R. Irwin, "Structural aspects of brittle fracture," Appl. Mater. Res., 3, No. 2, 65-81 (1964).
22. F.A. McClintok and G. R. Irwin, "Plasticity aspects of fracture mechanics," in: Fracture Toughness Testing and its Application,
Amer. Soc. Test. Mater., Philadelphia (Pa) (ASTM STP 381) (1965), pp. 84-113.
23. J.M. Krafft and G. R. Irwin, "Crack-velocity considerations," in: Fracture Toughness Testing and its Application, Amer. Soc. Test.
Mater., Philadelphia (Pa) (ASTM STP 381) (1965), pp. 114-129.
24. G.R. Irwin, "On cracks in reetilinearly anisotropic materials," Int. J. Fract. Mech., 1, No. 3 (1965).
25. G.R. Irwin, Moisture Assisted Slow Crack Extension in Glass Plate, NRL Memorandum, Report No. 1678, Washington (DC)
0966).
26. G.R. Irwin, "Fracture mechanics applied to adhesive systems," in: R. Patrick (editor), Treatise on Adhesion and Adhesive, Vol. 1,
Chap. 7 (1966).
27. G.R. Irwin, "Linear fracture mechanics, fracture transition and fracture control," Eng. Fract. Mech., 1, No. 2, 241-258 (1968).
28. G.C. Sih and G. R. Irwin, "Dynamic analysis for two-dimensional multiple crack division," Eng. Fract. Mech., 1, No. 4, 603-614
(1969).
29. G.R. Irwin and P. C. Paris, "Fundamental aspects of crack growth and fracture," in: H. Liebowitz (editor), Fracture: an Advanced
Treatise, Vol. 3: Engineering Fundamentals and Environmental Effects, Academic Press, New York--London (197 I), pp. 1--46.
30. J.W. Dally, W. L. Fonrney, and G. R. Irwin, "On the uniqueness of the stress intensity factor-crack velocity rate relationship," Int.
J. Fract., 27, No. 3, 159-168 (1985).
31. G.R. Irwin, X. J. Zhang, and R. W. Armstrong, "Isolated cleavage regions in the ductile fracturing transition of nuclear vessel steels
and their weld metals," J. Mater. Sci. Lett., 8, 844-848 (1989).
32. G.R. Irwin, X. J. Zhang, A. Kumar, and R. W. Armstrong, "Fraetographie study of isolated cleavage regions in nuclearpressure ves-
sel steels and weld metals," in: B. M. Strauss (editor), Evaluation and Techniques in Fractography, Amer. Sac. Test. Mater., Phila-
delphia (Pa) (ASTM STP 1085) (1990).
33. G.R. Irwin, J. W. Dally, and R. J. Bonenberger, "Lower bound initiation toughness of A-533B reactor grade steel," in: E. Ohara and
W. R. Carwin (editors), Fracture Testing, Amer. Soc. Test. Mater, Philadelphia (Pa) (ASTM STP 1130) (1992), p. 9.

Acknowledgement

I am very grateful to Mrs. Thelma C. Miller, Secretary of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the
University of Maryland, for the information used in this survey.

REFERENCES

1. A.A. Griffith, "The phenomena of rupture and flow in solids," Trans. Royal Soc. London, Ser. A., 221, 163-198 (1921).
2. E. Orowan, Trans. Inst. Engrs. Shipbuild. Scotland, 89, 165 (1945).
3. E. Orowan, "Fundamentals of Brittle Behaviour in Metals," in: Fatigue and Fracture of Metals (MTT Symposium, June, 1950),
Wiley & Sons, New'York (1952), pp. 139-167.
4. H.M. Westergaard, "'Bearing pressures and cracks," Trans. ASME. J. AppL Mech., 6, No. 2, A49-A53 (1939).
5. K. Wieghardt, "Uber das Spalten und ZerreiBen elastischer K6rper," Z Math. Phys., B55, 60-103 (1907).
6. Reports of Special ASTM Committee on Fracture Testing of High-Strength Metall& Materials:
I st report: "Fracture testing of high-strength sheet materials," ASTM Bulletin., No. 243, 29--40; No. 244, 18-28 ( 1960);
2nd report: "The slow growth and rapid propagation of crack," Mater. Res. Stand., 1, No. 5, 389-393 (1961);
3rd report: "Fracture testing of high-strength sheet materials," Mater. Res. Stand., 1, No. I 1,877-885 (1961);
4th report: "Screening tests for high-strength alloys using sharply notched cylindrical specimens," Mater. Res. Stand., 2, No. 3,
196-204 (1962);
5th report: "Progress in measuring and using of fracture mechanics," Mater Res. Stand., 4, No. 3, 107-118 (1964).
7. I.F. Knott, "The science and engineering of fracture," Fiz.-Khim. Mekh. Mater.. 29, No. 3, 42-65 (1993).