The volume provides a comprehensive understanding of the macroscopic failure behavior of solids from the description of the microscopic failure processes and their coupling with the microstructure. Several fundamental questions were addressed: the relation between the microstructural features of materials and their fracture properties and crack trajectories; the role of damage mechanisms and non-linear deformations near the crack tip on the failure behavior of solids; and finally the role of dynamic inertial effects during fast fracture was more briefly evoked. The chapters provide a pedagogical overview of recently developed concepts and tools, that permit to perform the transition from small scales to large ones in fracture problems, thus introducing basic rules for the rational design of tough solids.
