| Abstract: | Material forces govern the behavior and evolution of defects in solids. In elastic materials these forces which are associated with the Eshelby stress tensor are used to describe fracture sensitivities and can be employed to compute the J‐integral 2]. Since crack propagation begins with a variety of fundamental processes which occur within highly localized ultra–fine volume of material that constitute the fracture process zone surrounding a crack tip 3], the question of appropriate growth criteria, i.e. how far and in which direction a crack will glide under a certain loading condition is implied by the material force. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
