15 Examples of Brittle Materials

The fragility is the capacity of certain materials to fracture or break into smaller pieces, suffering little or no deformation. It is the opposite of toughness and is a property of substances whose response to stress or tension leads to the appearance of cracks inside. For example: diamond, brick, glass, graphite.

The brittle materials, thus, they have little or limited elasticity: they are unable to regain their original shape once subjected to a force that exceeds their resistance. Similarly, they are little ductileIn other words, they lack the ability to deform in the face of sustained stress over time.

However, they should not be confused brittleness and hardness, since they refer to different properties: hardness has to do with the resistance of a material's surface to deformations, while brittleness refers to its ability to fracture into small parts rather than deform.

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Use of brittle materials

Since brittle materials are capable of absorb a very limited amount of energy

, are usually not desirable when constructing or building durable objects, such as foundations or bridges. In fact, in these cases the brittleness is usually imposed by other materials, endowed in turn with specific essential properties, such as resistance to oxide.

In other cases, however, brittleness is a desirable and predictable property, such as a emergency glass from the casing of a fire extinguisher, which must shatter with a relatively low impact weak.

Examples of brittle materials

1. Diamond. The toughest known substance in the universe, diamond, is made of atoms carbon in such a tight arrangement that its bonds are almost unbreakable. However, the diamond can break and then its enormous fragility is evident, since it breaks into smaller fragments and is impossible to deform.
2. Glass. One of the most verifiable examples of fragility in everyday life, it is enough to drop a glass vase on the ground to reveal its fracture into small pieces. This property allows that, together with its transparency, it is used in contexts where it can be necessary to break them in an emergency, such as fire extinguisher boxes or windshields of buses.
3. Brick. One of the elements most used in construction is brick, a usually rectangular and hollow piece of fired clay, whose hardness and weight is comparable to its fragility. It is a very cooked (350 ° C) and very economical version of the adobe used by ancient cultures to make their homes.
4. Ceramics. Ceramic is called the art of making objects with earthenware, clay, clay or other materials that once cooked, acquire hardness and fragility, and it is possible to paint and decorate. Examples of this are the ornamental or funerary vessels of ancient cultures, such as the Egyptian, or many ritual figures sculpted in this type of material as well.
5. Some polymers. Specifically polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polystyrene (PMS) and polyacid lactic acid (PLA), among others are organic substances usually derived from petroleum, built in the form of plates of acrylic. They are usually resistant and transparent, but fragile.
6. The shell of the eggs. We have all had the disastrous experience of accidentally breaking an egg, and we know that its shell is hard and firm but extremely brittle, and that a single blow is enough to score and crack or turn bits. These shells are made of calcium crystals and other minerals linked by a layer of protein.
7. Crystal. Crystals are forms of presentation of the solid matter, whose molecules they are ordered based on a specific, well-defined, non-fuzzy pattern. They are formed from metamorphic processes of minerals, or from the solidification of gases (crystallization) wave evaporation of waters with high saline content. The crystals can be more or less resistant, but always fragile and very little elastic.
8. High carbon steels. Steel is the product of a alloy iron and carbon, this being metal one ductile, resistant and tenacious, but vulnerable to corrosion. That is why it is alloyed with carbon and other materials to make it resistant to rust and obtain steel; but in return, the presence of carbon at high levels makes it brittle, that is, it reduces its natural ductility and makes it brittle.
9. Porcelain. Porcelain is a white, compact, waterproof, hard and brittle material that is very often used to make china, vases, lamps and ornamental objects, being more sophisticated than earthenware or other clays, although just as fragile. It is made from quartz and other ground minerals, kaolin, feldspar and everything is baked in the oven.
10. Whiteboard. Chalk or pastel is a white, brittle and powdery clay, made into long sticks, a classic teaching instrument for writing on a blackboard. It is also used, pulverized, in the cleaning of some metals.
11. Dry plaster. This colorless calcium sulfate mineral is used, with an addition of water, to form a highly malleable plastic mass that is ideal for construction or modeling tasks. By losing the water to the environment, the plaster proceeds to harden and become brittle, as it loses all its elasticity.
12. Graphite. Another of the natural presentations of carbon is this mineral made up of superimposed layers of graphene. It is black in color, very soft and opaque, as well as fragile. In fact, it is used for pencil tips, which often break into smaller pieces when we apply a lot of pressure or drop the pencil a lot on the ground.
13. Some woods. Although the specific properties of wood vary according to the tree they come from, some are more elastic than others and some much more fragile, easy to splinter such as balsa wood or woods in an advanced state of decomposition.
14. Tin Rich Bronzes. Bronze is the result of the alloy between copper and tin, and it is a highly valued material for its ductility and malleability, but which by having large amounts of tin in its constitution, it loses this property and becomes a brittle metal, easily splinter.
15. Alkali metals. Like sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and others, which in their solid state dry out so much that they obtain enormous hardness and also great brittleness.

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