What Does
Shear Fracture Mean?
Shear fracture refers to the breakage and/or disintegration of a material due to the application of a strain force on its surface. The force is generated due to the lateral shifting of intergranular layers in the structure of the material.
Shear fractures occur due to concentrations of stress at flawed locations on a material's surface that are already otherwise susceptible to external attack. These flaws are typically due to reactive attacks like pitting and crevice corrosion.
Corrosionpedia Explains Shear Fracture
A shear fracture (and fatigue) is propagated in three main stages:
- Initiation refers to the first generation of a crack of deformation along the surface of a material due to strain at a high stress location. Such high stress locations are often points of severe corrosion and intergranular interference.
- Propagation refers to the continuous application of the strain force on a material's surface over a continuous or periodic time interval.
- Final failure refers to the ultimate breakage of a given material into two or more parts due to the applied strain force. This is the point after which no further remediation activities can be incorporated to prevent destruction.
When a fractured granular face of the metal coincides with the intersection planes of the maximum shear stress, the material undergoes fracture or fatigue.