Abstract
When a piece of metal is fractured either by tensile or impact loading (pulling or hitting), the fracture surface that is formed is rough and irregular. Its shape is affected by the metal's microstructure (such as grains, inclusions and precipitates, whose characteristic length is large relative to the atomic scale), as well as by ‘macrostructural’ influences (such as the size, the shape of the specimen, and the notch from which the fracture begins). However, repeated observation at various magnifications also reveals a variety of additional structures that fall between the ‘micro’ and the ‘macro’ and have not yet been described satisfactorily in a systematic manner. The experiments reported here reveal the existence of broad and clearly distinct zone of intermediate scales in which the structure is modelled very well by a fractal surface. A new method, slit island analysis, is introduced to estimate the basic quantity called the fractal dimension, D. The estimate is shown to agree with the value obtained by fracture profile analysis, a spectral method. Finally, D is shown to be a measure of toughness in metals.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mandelbrot, B. B. The Fractal Geometry of Nature (Freeman, New York, 1982); also Les objets fractals (Flammarion, Paris, 1975, 1984) and Fractals; Form, Chance and Dimension (Freeman, New York, 1977).
Passoja, D. E. & Psioda, J. A. in Fractography and Materials Science (eds Gilbertson, L. N. & Zipp, R. D.) 335–386 (American Society for Testing Materials, Philadelphia, 1981).
Passoja, D. E. & Amborski, D. J. in Microstruct. Sci. 6, 143–148 (1978).
Gilbertson, L. N. & Zipp, R. D. (eds) Fractography and Materials Science, ASTM STP 733 (American Society for Testing Materials, Philadelphia, 1981).
Coster, M. & Chermant, J. L. Int. Metals Rev. 28, 234–238 (1983).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mandelbrot, B., Passoja, D. & Paullay, A. Fractal character of fracture surfaces of metals. Nature 308, 721–722 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/308721a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/308721a0
This article is cited by
-
Design of Concrete Colour Reference Charts for Monitoring of Deterioration in Concrete Structures
Journal of The Institution of Engineers (India): Series A (2024)
-
Statistical interdependence of multi-scale 3D morphological descriptors of sand grains
Granular Matter (2024)
-
Adhesive Contact of Elastic Solids with Self-Affine Fractal Rough Surfaces
Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica (2024)
-
Elastic Shakedown and Roughness Evolution in Repeated Elastic–Plastic Contact
Tribology Letters (2024)
-
Estimating millimeter-scale surface roughness of rock outcrops using drone-flyover structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry by applying machine learning model
Earth Science Informatics (2024)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.