Tensile fracture resistance mechanisms in brittle polycrystals: An ultrasonics and in situ microscopy investigation

A zone of distributed microcracking is often suggested to accompany tensile macrocrack propagation in rocks and ceramics. The microcracking is said to be largely responsible for (1) high values of fracture energy, (2) increasing resistance to fracture with crack extension and (3) the dependence of fracture mechanics data on the experimental setup. In the present paper, the material breakdown processes in imperfectly elastic Westerly granite are...