Transition Temperature
(1) An arbitrarily defined temperature within the temperature range in which metal fracture characteristics determined usually by notched tests are changing rapidly such as from primarily fibrous (shear) to promarily crystalline (cleavage) fracture. Commonly used definitions are transition temperature for 50% cleavage fracture, 10 ft lb transition temperature, and transition temperature for half maximum energy. (2) Sometimes also used to denote the arbitrarily defined temperature in a range in which the ductility changes rapidly with temperature.
