MECHANICAL PROPERTIES II

Fracture Mechanics
By M. Seyed-Salehi
 2
INTRODUCTION
 Previous chapter provided a broad overview of the fracture of metals, particularly brittle fracture.
 It was shown that the theoretical cohesive stress is much greater than the observed fracture
stress for metals.
 This led to the idea of defects or cracks which locally raise the stress to the level of the theoretical
cohesive stress.
 It was shown that microcracks can be formed in metallurgical systems by a variety of
mechanisms and that the critical step usually is the stress required to propagate the microcracks to
a complete fracture.
 The first successful theoretical approach to this problem was the Griffith theory of brittle
fracture.
 Griffith's theory was modified by Orowan to allow for the degree of plasticity always present in
the brittle fracture of metals.

 This equation was modified by Irwin' to replace the hard to measure gp with a term that was directly
measurable.

 where gc corresponds to a critical value of the crack-extension force

 3
INTRODUCTION

 The crack-extension force has units of J/m2 (N/m).

 It may be considered as a strain-energy release rate, i.e., the rate of transfer of energy from the
elastic stress field of the cracked structure to the inelastic process of crack extension.
 The critical value of g which makes the crack propagate to fracture, gc, is called the fracture
toughness of the material.
 Fracture mechanics makes it possible to determine
 Whether a crack of given length in a material of known fracture toughness is dangerous because it will
propagate to fracture at a given stress level.
 It also permits the selection of materials for resistance to fracture and a selection of the design which is most
resistant to fracture.
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STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR

 The stress distribution at the crack tip in a thin plate for an elastic solid in terms of the coordinates
shown in the below Figure
 5
STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR

 Irwin pointed out that the Eqs indicate that the local stresses near a crack depend on the product
of the nominal stress a and the square root of the half-flaw length.
 He called this relationship the stress intensity factor K, where for a sharp elastic crack in an
infinitely wide plate, K is defined as

 Note the K has the unusual dimensions of N/m3/2 or Pa.m1/2

 So

 The stress intensity factor K is a convenient way of describing the stress distribution around a
flaw.
 If two flaws of different geometry have the same value of K, then the stress fields around each of
the flaws are identical.
 6
STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR

 For the general case the stress intensity factor is given by

 where a is a parameter that depends on the specimen and crack geometry.

 While the crack-extension force g has a more direct physical significance to the fracture process,
the stress intensity factor K is preferred in working with fracture mechanics because it is more
amenable to analytical determination. By combining the Eqs., we see that the two parameters are
simply related.

 According to these models

 Fracture takes place when the stress intensity factor applied to the crack reach to Kc, or
 Fracture takes place when the crack extension force applied to the crack reach to g c, or
 7
STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR

 In dealing with the stress intensity factor there are several modes of deformation that could be
applied to the crack. These have been standardized
 Mode I, the crack-opening mode, refers to a tensile stress applied in normal to the faces of the crack. This is
the usual mode for fracture-toughness tests and a critical value of stress intensity determined for this mode
would be designated KIc·
 Mode II, the forward shear mode, refers to a shear stress applied normal to the leading edge of the crack but
in the plane of the crack.
 Mode III, the parallel shear mode, is for shearing stresses applied parallel to the leading edge of the crack.
 8
FRACTURE TOUGHNESS AND DESIGN

 A properly determined value of KIc represents the fracture toughness of the material independent
of crack length, geometry, or loading system.
 Typical values of KIc

 The basic equation for fracture toughness illustrates the design tradeoff that is inherent in fracture
mechanics design

 If the material is selected, KIc is fixed. Further, if we allow for the presence of a relatively large
stable crack, then the design stress is fixed and must be less than KIc
 9
FRACTURE TOUGHNESS AND DESIGN

 Tradeoffs between fracture toughness, allowable stress, and crack size

 10
FRACTURE TOUGHNESS AND DESIGN

 Example: The stress intensity for a partial-through thickness flaw is given by below Eq. where a is
the depth of penetration of the flaw through a wall thickness t.

If the flaw is 5 mm deep in a wall 12 mm thick, determine whether the wall will support a stress of 172
MPa if it is made from 7075-T6 aluminum alloy) KIc = 24 MPa.m1/2(.
We will determine the critical stress level to make a 5-mm flaw propagate to failure in this material.

But the applied stress is 172 MPa. Therefore, the flaw will propagate as a brittle fracture.
 11
KIc PLANE-STRAIN TOUGHNESS TESTING

 Since the methods of analysis are based on linear elastic fracture mechanics, these testing
procedures are restricted to materials with limited ductility.
 We have seen that the elastic stress field near a crack tip can be described by a single parameter
called the stress intensity factor K. The magnitude of this stress intensity factor depends on
 the geometry of the solid containing the crack,
 the size and location of the crack,
 the magnitude and distribution of the loads imposed on the solid.
 As the usual test involves the opening mode of loading (mode I) the critical value of K is called
KIc, the plane-strain fracture toughness.
 Fracture takes place when

 For materials with a strong temperature and strain-rate dependence KIc usually decreases with
decreased temperature and increased strain rate.
 For a given alloy, KIc is strongly dependent on such
 metallurgical variables as heat treatment,
 texture,
 melting practice,
 impurities, inclusions, etc.
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KIc PLANE-STRAIN TOUGHNESS TESTING

 Effect of specimen thickness on stress and mode of fracture

 we saw that a notch in a thick plate is far more damaging than in a thin plate because it leads to a
plane-strain state of stress with a high degree of triaxiality.
 The fracture toughness measured under plane-strain conditions is obtained under maximum
constraint or material brittleness.
 The plane-strain fracture toughness is designated KIc and is a true material property.
 13
KIc PLANE-STRAIN TOUGHNESS TESTING

 The minimum thickness to achieve plane-strain conditions and valid KIc measurements is

 So, KIc represents the fracture toughness of the material in Plane strain condition (maximum
deformation constraint or material brittleness)
 14
KIc PLANE-STRAIN TOUGHNESS TESTING

 A variety of specimens have been proposed for measuring KIc plane-strain fracture toughness.

 After the notch is machined in the specimen, the sharpest possible crack is produced at the notch
root by fatiguing the specimen in a low-cycle, high-strain mode (typically 1,000 cycles with a
strain of 0.03)
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KIc PLANE-STRAIN TOUGHNESS TESTING

 The initial crack length ai, includes both the depth of the notch and the length of the fatigue crack.
 After sample preparation, tensile load apply to the specimens to achieve the load-displacement
curve.
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KIc PLANE-STRAIN TOUGHNESS TESTING

 The three types of load-crack-displacement curves that are obtained for materials

 The type I load-displacement curve represents the behavior for a wide variety of ductile metals in
which the crack propagates by a tearing mode with increasing load. This curve contains no
characteristic features to indicate the load corresponding to the onset of unstable fracture.
 17
KIc PLANE-STRAIN TOUGHNESS TESTING

 The ASTM procedure is to first draw the secant line OPs from the origin with a slope that is 5
percent less than the tangent OA. This determines Ps.
 Next draw a horizontal line at a load equal to 80 percent of Ps, and measure the distance x1 along
this line from the tangent OA to the actual curve.
 If x1 exceeds one-fourth of the corresponding distance xs at Ps, the material is too ductile to obtain a
valid KIc value. If the material is not too ductile, then the load PS, is designated PQ and used in the
calculations described below.
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KIc PLANE-STRAIN TOUGHNESS TESTING

 The type II load-displacement curve has a point where there is a sharp drop in load followed by a
recovery of load. The load drop represents a sudden unstable and rapid crack propagation before
the crack slows-down to a tearing mode of propagation. The same criteria for excessive ductility is
applied to type II curves, but in this case PQ is the maximum recorded load.
 The type III curve shows complete instability where the initial crack movement propagates rapidly
to complete failure. This type of curve is characteristic of a very brittle "elastic material“. PQ is the
maximum recorded load.
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KIc PLANE-STRAIN TOUGHNESS TESTING

 The value of PQ determined from the load-displacement curve is used to calculate a conditional
value of fracture toughness denoted KQ.
 The crack length a used in the equations is measured after fracture.
 Next calculate the factor 2.5(KQ/a0)2.
 If this quantity is less than both the thickness and crack length of the specimen, then KQ is equal to KIc
and the test is valid.
 Otherwise it is necessary to use a thicker specimen to determine KIc
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PLASTICITY CORRECTIONS

 The expressions for the elastic stress field expressed before, describe a stress singularity at the tip
of the crack.

 Or

Is it
reasonable?
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PLASTICITY CORRECTIONS

 In reality, metals will yield when the yielding criterion satisfied and a plastic zone will exist at the
crack tip.
 22
PLASTICITY CORRECTIONS

 Out to a distance r = rP the elastic stress  y is greater than the yield stress  0. To a first
approximation this distance rP is the size of the plastic zone. for  = 0,

 Plastic zone at the crack tip

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PLASTICITY CORRECTIONS

 However, it is evident that the plastic zone must be larger than rP because it does not allow for
yielding caused by the elastic stress distribution from y =  0 out to y = max·
 The load-carrying capability that is represented by the shaded area in the below Fig. must be
compensated for by extending the dimension of the plastic zone.
 More detailed analysis shows that the size of the plastic zone is 2rP
 24
PLASTICITY CORRECTIONS

 Irwin proposed that the existence of a plastic zone makes the crack act as if it were longer than
its physical size.
 As a result of crack-tip plasticity the displacements are larger and the stiffness is lower than for the
strictly elastic situation.
 The usual correction is to assume that the effective crack length is the actual length plus the radius
of the plastic zone.

 The smaller value of rP for plane strain is consistent with the fact that the triaxial stress field in
plane strain suppresses the extent of plastic deformation.
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PLASTICITY CORRECTIONS

 Example: A thin steel plate with a through thickness crack of length 2a = 20 mm is subjected to a
stress of 400 MPa normal to the crack. If the yield strength of the steel is 1500 MPa, what is the
plastic zone size and the stress intensity factor for the crack. Assume that the plate is infinitely
wide.
 For an infinite wide plate

 so
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J INTEGRAL

 A more comprehensive approach to the fracture mechanics of lower-strength ductile materials is

provided by the J integral.
 Rice showed that the line integral related to the energy in the vicinity of a crack can be used to
solve two-dimensional crack problems in the presence of plastic deformation.
 Fracture occurs when the J integral reaches a critical value. J has units of N/m.

 Where
 W is the strain energy per unit volume due to loading
  is the path of the integral which encloses the crack
 T is the outward traction (stress) vector acting on the contour around the crack
 u is the displacement vector
 ds is an increment of the contour path
 x, y are the rectangular coordinates
 T( du/dx) ds is the rate of work input from the stress field into the area enclosed by .
 27
J INTEGRAL

 The J integral is path-independent.

 Therefore J can be determined from a stress analysis where  and  are established by finite
element analysis around the contour enclosing the crack.
 The J integral can be interpreted as the potential energy difference between two identically loaded
specimens having slightly different crack lengths.

 It says that the value of J (obtained under elastic-plastic conditions) is numerically equal to the
strain-energy release rate (obtained under elastic conditions).
 This equivalence has been demonstrated by measuring JIc from small fully plastic specimens and
g1c, from large elastic specimens satisfying the plane-strain conditions of LEFM.
 28
STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR

 As discussed before, the stress intensity factor for a straight crack of length 2a perpendicular to the
loading direction, in an infinite plane, having a uniform stress field is

 For the general case the stress intensity factor is given by

 where a is a parameter that depends on the specimen and crack geometry

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STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR

 The stress intensity factor at the tip of a penny-shaped crack of radius “a” in an infinite domain
under uniaxial tension is

 For penny-shaped crack a is

 For an edge crack of length, “a”, at the edge of a semi-infinite half space: the increased ability of
the crack to open causes the stress intensity factor to increase by some 12%

 For edge crack in a semi-infinite space

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STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR

 So, for a penny-shaped crack at the surface of a semi-infinite half space

 for a penny-shaped crack at the corner of a semi-infinite quarter space

 31
STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR

 If the crack is located centrally in a finite plate of width W

 For more complex crack position, the stress intensity factor is more complex
PROBABILISTIC ASPECTS OF FRACTURE MECHANICS32

 Mechanical-strength measurements of brittle materials, like glass and ceramics, or of metals

under conditions where they behave in a brittle manner, show a high variability of results which
requires statistical analysis.
 the mechanical properties are not expressible by a single number, but instead we must think in
terms of probability of failure at a given stress.
 An important consequence of the statistical behavior is that the strength of brittle solids shows a
pronounced size effect
 The strength decreases with increasing size or volume of the specimen.
 EXAMPLE: One of the early observations with brittle materials was that the strength of a fine
glass fiber or metal wire is usually higher than that of a large-diameter rod. What about wire
length?
 These manifestations of the size effects are the result of the fact that the strength of a brittle
material is controlled by the stress at the root of its most dangerous crack (usually the longest
crack).
 As the specimen size decreases there is less likelihood of finding a large crack, and the strength
increases.
PROBABILISTIC ASPECTS OF FRACTURE MECHANICS33

 A statistical theory of brittle fracture assumes that the specimen is divided into many volume
elements, each containing a single crack. The usual simplifying assumption is that there is no
interaction between the cracks in the different volume elements.
 The strength of the specimen is determined by the element with the longest crack, for this results in
the lowest value of fracture stress.

 Therefore, the brittle-fracture strength is determined, not by an average value of the distribution
of flaws, but by the single-most dangerous flaw.
PROBABILISTIC ASPECTS OF FRACTURE MECHANICS34

 calculated frequency distribution of fracture stress in a brittle material as a function of the

number of cracks N.

 This shows that

 the scatter (spread) in fracture stress decreases with an increase in the number of cracks.
 Also, as the number of flaws increases the mean value of the fracture stress decreases,
 but as the number of flaws reaches large values there is less relative decrease in the mean value of
fracture stress.
PROBABILISTIC ASPECTS OF FRACTURE MECHANICS35

 The most generally applicable frequency distribution in fracture problems is the Weibull
distribution

 where
 P(x) is cumulative frequency distribution of random variable x
 m is shape parameter, sometimes referred to as the Weibull modulus
  is scale parameter, sometimes called the characteristic value
 0 is minimum allowable value of x
 36
BRITTLE FRACTURE AND IMPACT TESTING
THE BRITILE-FRACTURE PROBLEM

 During World War. II a great deal of attention was directed to the brittle failure of welded Liberty
ships and T-2 tankers. Some of these ships broke completely in two, while, in other instances, the
fracture did not completely disable the ship.
 Most of the failure occurred during the winter months when the ships were in heavy seas or they
were anchored at dock.
 These calamities focused attention on the fact that normally ductile mild steel can become brittle
under certain conditions.
 Also, Brittle failures in tanks, pressure vessels, pipelines, and bridges have been documented
 37
BRITTLE FRACTURE AND IMPACT TESTING
THE BRITILE-FRACTURE PROBLEM

 Three basic factors contribute to a brittle-cleavage type of fracture.

1. Triaxial state of stress,
2. Low temperature, and
3. High strain rate or rapid rate of loading

 All three of these factors do not have to be present at the same time to produce brittle fracture.
 A triaxial state of stress, such as exists at a notch, and low temperature are responsible for most
service failures of the brittle type.
 However, since these effects are accentuated at a high rate of loading, many types of impact tests
have been used to determine the susceptibility of materials to brittle behavior.
 This type of test will detect differences between materials which are not observable in a tension
test.
 The results obtained from notched-bar tests are not readily expressed in terms of design
requirements, since it is not possible to measure the components of the triaxial stress condition at
the notch.
 38
NOTCHED-BAR IMPACT TESTS

 The impact test, depicted below, measures the amount of energy absorbed upon impact. A
weighted pendulum, which is held at some height h from the sample, swings and impacts the
sample at a very high strain rate. The pendulum then continues to swing until reaching a final
height of h′. The difference between the potential energies at height h and h′ is considering to be the
energy that the sample absorbed upon impact. The energy absorbed in fracture, usually expressed in
joules, is read directly from a calibrated dial on the impact tester.
 In Europe impact test results are frequently expressed in energy absorbed per unit cross-sectional
area of the specimen. It is important to realize that fracture energy measured by the test is only a
relative energy and cannot be used directly in design equations.
 39
NOTCHED-BAR IMPACT TESTS

 A large number of notched-bar test specimens of different design have been used by investigators
of the brittle fracture of metals. Two classes of specimens have been standardized for notched-
impact testing.
 Charpy bar specimens are used most commonly in the United States
 Izod specimen is favored in Great Britain.

 The Charpy specimen has a square cross section (10 x 10 mm) and contains a 45° V notch, 2 mm
deep with a 0.25-mm root radius.
 The specimen is forced to bend and fracture at a high strain rate on the order of 103 s-1
 40
NOTCHED-BAR IMPACT TESTS

 A large number of notched-bar test specimens of different design have been used by investigators
of the brittle fracture of metals. Two classes of specimens have been standardized for notched-
impact testing.
 Charpy bar specimens are used most commonly in the United States
 Izod specimen is favored in Great Britain.

 The lzod specimen, which is used rarely today, has either a circular or square cross section and
contains a V- notch near the clamped end.
 41
NOTCHED-BAR IMPACT TESTS

 As you remember, the stress state play a key role in brittle fracture. The relative values of the
three principal stresses depend strongly on the dimensions of the bar and the details of the notch.
The standard specimen is thick enough to ensure a high degree of plane-strain loading and
triaxiality across almost all of the notched cross section. Thus, the standard Charpy V-notch
specimen provides a severe test for brittle fracture.
 Another common measurement obtained from the Charpy test results from the examination of the
fracture surface to determine whether the fracture is fibrous (shear fracture), granular (cleavage
fracture), or a mixture of both.
 The flat facets of cleavage fracture provide a high reflectivity and bright appearance, while the
dimpled surface of a ductile fibrous fracture provides a light-absorptive surface and dull
appearance.
 42
NOTCHED-BAR IMPACT TESTS

 The fracture surface would be changed by changing the condition, from cleavage to fibrous.

 Note that the fibrous fracture appears first around the outer surface of the specimen (shear lip)
where the triaxial constraint is the least.
 43
NOTCHED-BAR IMPACT TESTS

 The notched-bar impact test is most meaningful when conducted over a range of temperature so
that the temperature at which the ductile-to-brittle transition takes place can be determined.

 Note that the energy absorbed decreases with decreasing temperature but that for most cases the
decrease does not occur sharply at a certain temperature. This makes it difficult to determine
accurately the transition temperature.
 Steel A shows higher notch toughness at room temperature; yet its transition temperature is higher
than that of steel B.
 The material with the lowest transition temperature is to be preferred.
 The chief engineering use of the Charpy test is in selecting materials which are resistant to brittle
fracture by means of transition-temperature curves.
 44
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE CURVE

 The transition-temperature behavior of a wide spectrum of materials falls into the three categories
1. Medium- and low-strength FCC metals have such high notch toughness that brittle fracture is not a
problem unless there is some special reactive chemical environment.
2. High-strength materials (0 > E/150) have such low notch toughness that brittle fracture can occur at
nominal stresses in the elastic range at all temperatures and strain rates when flaws are present. High-
strength steel, aluminum and titanium alloys fall into this category.
3. The notch toughness of low- and medium-strength bcc metals, as well as Be, Zn, and ceramic materials
is strongly dependent on temperature. At low temperature the fracture occurs by cleavage while at high
temperature the fracture occurs by ductile rupture. Thus, there is a transition from notch brittle to notch
tough behavior with increasing temperature.

 NOTE: In metals this transition occurs at 0.1 to 0.2 of the absolute melting temperature Tm, while
in ceramics the transition occurs at about 0.5 to 0.7Tm.
 45
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE CURVE

 The design philosophy using transition-temperature curves centers about the determination of a
temperature above which brittle fracture will not occur at elastic stress levels.
 Obviously, the lower this transition temperature, the greater the fracture toughness of the
material.

 The most conservative criterion for transition temperature is to select T1, corresponding to the
upper shelf in fracture energy and the temperature above which the fracture is 100 percent fibrous
(0 percent cleavage). This transition temperature criterion is called the fracture transition plastic
(FTP). The FTP is the temperature at which the fracture changes from totally ductile to
substantially brittle. The probability of brittle fracture is negligible above the FTP.
 46
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE CURVE

 The use of the FTP is very conservative and in many applications it may be impractical. An
arbitrary, but less conservative criterion is to base the transition temperature on 50 percent
cleavage-50 percent shear, T2. This is called a fracture-appearance transition temperature
(FATT).
 Roughly similar results are obtained by defining the transition temperature as the average of the
upper and lower shelf values, T3 which is called ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT)
 A common criterion is to define the transition temperature T4 on the basis of an arbitrary low value
of energy absorbed Cv· This is often called the ductility transition temperature.
 47
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE CURVE

 A well-defined criterion is to base the transition temperature on the temperature at which the
fracture becomes 100 percent cleavage, T5. This point is known as nil ductility temperature
(NDT). The NDT is the temperature at which fracture initiates with essentially no prior plastic
deformation. Below the NDT the probability of ductile fracture is negligible.
 48
METALLURGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING DBTT

 Chemical composition in mild steel

 Carbon (C): transition temperature is raised by increasing carbon content. Increasing the carbon content
also has a pronounced effect on the maximum energy and the shape of the energy transition-temperature
curves.

 Manganese (Mn): transition temperature is lowered by increasing manganese.

 Phosphorus (P): also has a strong effect in raising the transition temperature.
 Nickel (Ni): is generally accepted to be beneficial to notch toughness in amounts up to 2 percent and seems
to be particularly effective in lowering the ductility transition temperature.
 49
METALLURGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING DBTT

 Chemical composition in mild steel

 Silicon (Si): in amounts over 0.25 percent, appears to raise the transition temperature.
 Molybdenum (Mo): raises the transition almost as rapidly as carbon, while chromium has little effect.
 Oxygen (O): it was found that oxygen produced intergranular fracture and corresponding low energy
absorption. When the oxygen content was raised, the transition temperature was raised.

 Grain size
 Grain size has a strong effect on transition temperature. An increase ASTM number (decrease average grain
size) can result in a decrease in transition temperature.

 Microstructure anisotropy
 The notched-impact properties of rolled or forged products vary with orientation in the plate or bar.

 Specimens A and B are oriented in the longitudinal direction of the plate. In specimen A the notch is
perpendicular to the plate, while in B the notch lies parallel to the plate surface. In specimen C the notch·
orientation is used, but the specimen is oriented transverse to the rolling direction.
 50
METALLURGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING DBTT

 It shows that quite large differences can be expected for different specimen orientations at high
energy levels, but the differences become much less at low energy levels.
 If, however, materials are compared on the basis of room-temperature impact properties, orientation
can greatly affect the results.
51