Griffith’s Legacy to Alloy Design and Beyond

• Published in: JOM (1989) Vol. 73; no. 6; pp. 1579 - 1581
• Main Authors: Gerberich, W. W., Cordill, M. J., Carter, J. W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 100 Years of the Griffith Fracture Criteria Solidification Behavior; Alloys; Biomedical materials; Bombardment; Chemistry/Food Science; Composite materials; Crack propagation; Design; Earth Sciences; Electronic devices; Engineering; Environment; Federal government; Fracture toughness; GE engines; Geometry; Grain boundaries; Low temperature; Mars; Microscopy; Naval engineering; Naval vessels; Physics; Point defects; Quality control; R&D; Research & development; Science; Sensor arrays; Space debris; Space flight; Space programs; Stress concentration
• ISSN: 1047-4838; 1543-1851
• DOI: 10.1007/s11837-021-04667-1

(Note: I had to mention Earl Parker as he was my PhD advisor who earned a Presidential Medal for his work on Naval Ships after World War II.) It was not until the Space Race, in the late 1950s, that basic research was able to take advantage of the mainline research establishments at General Electric, Westinghouse, Boeing, and Honeywell, to name just a few, to demand increased funding from the US Federal Government in order to compete with the Soviet expansion. With George Irwin (Naval Research Lab) and Paul Paris (Lehigh and Boeing) as leaders, the ASTM E-24 fracture toughness committee established a fracture toughness standard using Griffith's theory. Properties for outer space and energy solutions: * Low-temperature strength From near-zero to hundreds of K, resilience of extreme temperature cycling, for long-distance radar acquisition and systems requiring a launch to Mars, as well as satellites require special multi-material designs.1'3-5'9'10'12"6'17 * Increased fracture toughness Space travel to Mars, for example, requires high hardness as well as modifications to thwart excessive interaction with space debris and proton bombardment. The results of this work could have broad application in examining the science of fracture, and the engineering quality control, needed to provide factors of safety on micro- and nano-scale materials and devices for biomedical and electronic sensor arrays.