WordNet

make brittle
lacking warmth and generosity of spirit; "a brittle and calculating woman"
caramelized sugar cooled in thin sheets (同)toffee, toffy
having little elasticity; hence easily cracked or fractured or snapped; "brittle bones"; "glass is brittle"; "`brickle and `brickly are dialectal" (同)brickle, brickly
(of metal or glass) not annealed and consequently easily cracked or fractured (同)unannealed

PrepTutorEJDIC

Bone embrittlement and collagen modifications due to high-dose gamma-irradiation sterilization.

Burton B1, Gaspar A1, Josey D2, Tupy J2, Grynpas MD3, Willett TL4.
Bone.Bone.2014 Apr;61:71-81. doi: 10.1016/j.bone.2014.01.006. Epub 2014 Jan 16.
Bone allografts are often used in orthopedic reconstruction of skeletal defects resulting from trauma, bone cancer or revision of joint arthroplasty. γ-Irradiation sterilization is a widely-used biological safety measure; however it is known to embrittle bone. Irradiation has been shown to affect t
PMID 24440514

Formation of a coplanar O-Al bonding cluster: the effect of O impurity on a Σ = 5 NiAl grain boundary from first-principles.

Liu LH1, Zhang Y, Hu XL, Lu GH.
Journal of physics. Condensed matter : an Institute of Physics journal.J Phys Condens Matter.2009 Jan 7;21(1):015002. doi: 10.1088/0953-8984/21/1/015002. Epub 2008 Dec 1.
The site occupancy, structure, and bonding properties of O in an NiAl grain boundary (GB) have been investigated by employing a first-principles total energy method based on density functional theory with the generalized gradient approximation and ultrasoft pseudopotential. The Σ5(310)/[001] tilt G
PMID 21817214

Anti-inflammatory prodrugs as plasticizers for biodegradable implant materials based on poly(3-hydroxybutyrate).

Kunze C1, Freier T, Kramer S, Schmitz KP.
Journal of materials science. Materials in medicine.J Mater Sci Mater Med.2002 Nov;13(11):1051-5.
Salicylic and acetylsalicylic acid esters were tested as plasticizers for biodegradable poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB). The aim is the combination of plasticizing and anti-inflammatory properties in the fabrication of implant materials. Solution-cast films made of mixtures of PHB and 30% ester showed
PMID 15348175

中尾雄一
Dynamics & Design Conference 2011, "235-1"-"235-10", 2011-09-05
… Further, safety functions have constantly been under consideration, resulting in to change the measuring tube material from Alloy C to SUSS 10S, which does not embrittle even when exposed to high pressure hydrogen gas. …
NAID 110009690984

小野公輔,田中智文,逸見義男 [他],大山英人
軽金属 55(12), 673-677, 2005-12-30
… Generally, eutectoid-type beta stabilizers embrittle the alloy after high temperature exposure because of the precipitation of intermetallic compounds such as TiCr2. …
NAID 10017157209

福田忠生,赤星保浩,原田昭治
年次大会講演論文集 : JSME annual meeting 2003(6), 51-52, 2003-08-05
… To examine this attention has been paid to copper-rich precipitates how they work to embrittle reactor pressure vessel steels. …
NAID 110002525887