The adhesives binding the magnetic particles to the plastic backing slowly leached out in the intervening decades, leaving the magnetic layer brittle and flaky.

Baghlawa is a form of baklava, made with brittle layers of pastry and sweetened walnuts.

When aluminum wire is terminated properly, the mechanical connection breaks the thin, brittle layer of oxide to form an excellent electrical connection.

By contrast, the more thinly bedded and very brittle layers were just used as hard core for road building or to reinforce dirt tracks.

As these minerals dried, they created a crust (a brittle outer layer) of salt and other minerals on top of the dirt.

One-way bulletproof glass is usually made of only two layers, a brittle layer on the outside and a flexible one on the inside.

A bullet fired from the outside hits the brittle layer first, shattering an area of it.

With a stainless steel cooking spoon, Mr. Sonnier, 42, scraped at the brittle layer of solidified duck juices, dislodging a few shards.

My shoes encounter broken glass, a brittle layer on the surface of the rug.

The foreland basin typically shows a thermal and rheological structure similar to a rifted continental margin with three brittle layers above three ductile layers.