| The
toughness of a material is a measure of the work required to cause it to
fracture. The work per unit volume of the material is given by the area
under the stress/strain curve over the complete deformation range.
A
ductile material with a high yield stress and strain at fracture is a tough
material. A ductile material with a lower yield stress but the same strain
at fracture will have a lower toughness. Brittle materials that fracture
with little or no plastic deformation have the lowest toughness. |
