Next, Irwin adopted the additional assumption that the size and shape of the energy dissipation zone remains approximately constant during brittle fracture. This assumption suggests that the energy needed to create a unit fracture surface is a constant that depends only on the material. This new material property was given the name fracture toughness and designated G Ic. Today, it is the critical stress intensity factor K Ic, found in the plane strain condition, which is accepted as the defining property in linear elastic fracture mechanics.