THE USE OF THE CRITICAL THICKNESS CONCEPT IN DESIGN

Abstract

A brief review of the 'critical thickness' concept is presented. Three actual examples of solid rocket motor case designs are then discussed. In the first example, fracture toughness and/or 'critical thickness' were not taken into account, but the case proved adequate. In the second example, a design based on the success of the first case proved inadequate because of an increase in section thickness. In the third example, the 'critical thickness' was properly considered and no brittle failure problem arose. After the discussion of these histories, a simplified technique for obtaining the critical thickness data required for adequate design is presented.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1964
Accession Number
AD0614094

Entities

People

  • Kenneth H. Abbott
  • Robert N. Katz

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Alloys
  • Chemistry
  • Crack Propagation
  • Cracks
  • Embrittlement
  • Energy
  • Fracture (Mechanics)
  • Heat Treatment
  • Low Temperature
  • Materials
  • Materials Engineering
  • Measurement
  • Mechanics
  • Notch Sensitivity
  • Resistance
  • Tensile Strength
  • Toughness

Readers

  • Metallurgy
  • Systems Analysis and Design