Brittle-Ductile Transition

Abstract

So far we have been concerned mainly with brittle behaviour culminating in gross brittle fracture. However, under suitable conditions, rock can exhibit ductility. This is an aspect of its behaviour that becomes of central importance in many geologic situations but which may also have relevance in some engineering contexts. Ductility in rock can be achieved in the laboratory with the aid of sufficiently high confining pressure and temperature. In this chapter, we are concerned with bridging the two fields of laboratory study, the brittle and the ductile behaviour, and particularly with setting out the essential factors involved in the transition from brittleness to ductility (for early comment on this transition, see Griggs and Handin, 1960).