iMechanica - Naming the SI Unit for Fracture Toughness (KIC) - Comments

HI TO ALL DEAR

ABHIJIT NALAWADE — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 07:25:07 -0400

HI TO ALL

DEAR FRIENDS,

I TOO AGREE WITH Mr. RAMDAS FOR RECOMMENDING THE NAME OF GRIFFITH AS A SI UNIT FOR FRACTURE TOUGHNESS.

WARMLY

ABHIJIT

That is one comment in...

Ajit R. Jadhav — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 03:40:31 -0400

Dear Ramdas,

Thanks for your feedback. I very much appreciate it.

I do have an opinion on the matter, but would like to reserve it for the time being. ... I would rather that others, too, expressed what they felt about the issue...

Once a few more comments come in, I will sure go ahead and add my view of the matter below here. Anyways, special thanks to you, once again, for being the lone commenter for something like a week by now!!

1 Griffith = 1 MPa.m^0.5

ramdas chennamsetti — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 02:38:37 -0400

Hi,

Yes, why not.

The units of KiC (i=I, II and III) look odd - MPa.m^0.5.

I feel Griffith may be a good choice, because, the Fracture Mechanics starts with Griffith's theory and we encounter KIC there at the first time.

1 Griffth = 1 MPa.m^0.5

- Ramdas.

Naming the SI Unit for Fracture Toughness (KIC)

Ajit R. Jadhav — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 12:21:01 -0400

To: Engineers, Fracture Analysts, Mechanicians, Physicists...

In science and engineering, we have an excellent tradition: naming a physical unit using the name of a prominent personality from the concerned field. For example, in SI system, we measure force in newton, work in joule, power in watt...

But the unit of fracture toughness, i.e. KIC, is too lengthy to pronounce: (mega) pascal-underoot-meter. Further, it has also been in use for something like half a century by now, perhaps more. So, how do you like the idea of giving a name to this unit?

As far as I can see, the possible choices are:

-- Griffith (G)
-- Irwin (I)
-- Some other person (Please specify)
-- None. The physical quantity KIC is not necessarily the best measure of toughness... We should wait for the research to evolve a better measure.
-- Something else (though I fail to see what it could be)

Please note, this is not a suggestion for a poll. (I mean, rather, that things like this should never be finalized purely by polls alone!)

But anyways, I would appreciate knowing what you think... Please leave your comment below...