Brittleness

Description

The ability of a material to break or crack when placed under pressure. A very brittle material will snap or tear when it is folded. This is usually an undesirable quality. A material with low brittleness will readily deform under pressure without breaking. A brittle metal has low ductility and low malleability.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Sprödigkeit (Deut.); fragilité (Fr.); brittle

Resources and Citations

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 949

• Boise Cascade Paper Group, The Paper Handbook, Boise Cascade, Portland OR, 1989

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• A.Lucas, J.R.Harris, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, Edward Arnold Publishers Ltd., London, 4th edition, 1962