A method for the 3-D quantification of bridging ligaments during crack propagation

This letter shows how a hole-closing algorithm can be used to identify and quantify crack-bridging ligaments from a sequence of X-ray tomography images of intergranular stress corrosion cracking. This allows automatic quantification of the evolution of bridging ligaments through the crack propagation sequence providing fracture mechanics insight previously unobtainable from fractography. The method may also be applied to other three-dimensional materials science problems, such as closing walls in foams. (C) 2011 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.