Griffith Energy Balance Concept

In fact, the first quantitative attempt to incorporate the dynamics of the crack into the Griffith energy balance concept was given by Mott (1948). He suggested that unlike the Griffith case of fracture initiation or nucleation... 

The energy balance considerations in Griffith s original concept were later refined by Orowan and Irwin to include the effects of plasticity and elasticity for applicability to metals (Orowan, 1952 Irwin, 1957). Metals fail by ductile fracture, where the crack growth occurs in the direction of the primary slip system. When the slip plane is inclined to the crack, atoms across the slip plane slide past one another, relieving the stress, which results in a zigzag crack path. This is illustrated in Figure 10.14. 

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