In article ,
Muddymike wrote:
"Jeff Layman" wrote in message ...

How could this happen? Stainless steel isn't brittle, and having split,
why didn't it split all the way across?

Probably due to metal fatigue. It's like breaking a piece of wire by bending
it back and forth several time until it breaks!
You have probably unknowingly bent it at that point many times before and it
bent back. This time it didn't:-)

And, actually, most stainless and high-tensile steels ARE brittle
compared to most mild steels. They will get fatigue first rather
than work-hardening, which is what the latter usually does.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.