Spall

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Spall consists of fragments of a material that break off a larger solid body. It can be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of projectile impact, corrosion, weathering, cavitation, or excessive rolling pressure (as in a ball bearing). Spalling and spallation both describe the process of surface failure in which spall is shed. Particle physicists have adopted the terms spall, spalling, and spallation; neutron scattering instruments generate neutrons by bombarding a uranium (or other) target with a stream of atoms, and the neutrons ejected from the target are known as "spall".

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