Abstract
THE theory advanced by A. A. Griffith1 in 1920 has served as a background to subsequent theories of rupture in brittle materials. The solid is regarded as an elastic continuum containing microscopic flaws, and the failure of the material under a stress less than that corresponding to the 'theoretical strength' (that is, as estimated from the heat of vaporization, or from Van der Waals' equation) is attributed to the enhancement of the stress in the locality of the flaws rather than to any intrinsic weakness of the material itself. Subsequent theories2'3 have assumed the acuteness of the flaws to be modified either by chemical attack by the atmosphere or by viscous yield in order to account for the apparent decrease in strength of glass with increasing duration of load. This is but one of the difficulties which can only be met by rather artificial additions to the theory.
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References
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COX, S. A Kinetic Approach to the Theory of the Strength of Glass. Nature 162, 947–949 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162947a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162947a0
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