Kinetic aspect of the life of tensile specimens: a comparison of two approaches

This paper considers two approaches to estimating the life of specimens: kinetic strength theory and homogeneous nucleation theory. Using aluminum as an example, it is shown that homogeneous nucleation theory overestimates the real life of tensile metal specimens by two order of magnitude and gives values close to the theoretical strength of metals. The use of experimental data on the lifetime of a superheated and stretched liquid (hexane) allows one to couple both approaches taking into account the time scale of occurrence of metastability.