Abstract
A theory of dynamic yielding for crazes is presented which is analogous to the Johnston–Gilman theory for dislocations. Stress–strain curves were calculated for polychlorotrifluoroethylene using experimental data on individual crazes. The comparison with the experimental stress–strain curves is favourable except that the theoretical curves exhibit a milder drop in the load. It is shown that increasing the initial number of crazes decreases the magnitude of the craze yield point as predicted by the theory.