Fracture

Fracture: separation of a body into pieces due to stress, at temperatures below the melting point.
Steps in fracture:
✓ crack formation
✓ crack propagation
Depending on the ability of material to undergo plastic deformation before the fracture two fracture modes
can be defined - ductile or brittle
• Ductile fracture - most metals (not too cold):
Extensive plastic deformation ahead of crack
Crack is “stable”: resists further extension unless applied stress is increased
• Brittle fracture - ceramics, ice, cold metals:
Relatively little plastic deformation
Crack is “unstable”: propagates rapidly without increase in applied stress

Ductile fracture is preferred in most applications

• Ductile materials - extensive plastic deformation and energy absorption (“toughness”) before
fracture
• Brittle materials - little plastic deformation and low energy absorption before fracture
 A B C

A. Very ductile, soft metals (e.g. Pb, Au) at room temperature, other metals, polymers,
glasses at high temperature.
B. Moderately ductile fracture, typical for ductile metals
C. Brittle fracture, cold metals, ceramics.

Ductile Fracture (Dislocation Mediated)

 (a) Necking
(b) Formation of microvoids
(c) Coalescence of microvoids to form a crack
(d) Crack propagation by shear deformation
(e) Fracture

Ductile Fracture

(Cup-and-cone fracture in Al)

tensile failure shear failure

Scanning Electron Microscopy: Fractographic studies at high resolution. Spherical “dimples” correspond to
microvoids that initiate crack formation.
Brittle Fracture (Limited Dislocation Mobility)
No appreciable plastic deformation
Crack propagation is very fast
Crack propagates nearly perpendicular to the direction of the applied stress
Crack often propagates by cleavage - breaking of atomic bonds along specific
crystallographic planes (cleavage planes).

Brittle fracture in a mild steel

Brittle Fracture
A. Trans-granular fracture: Fracture cracks pass through grains. Fracture surface have faceted texture
because of different orientation of cleavage planes in grains.
B. Inter-granular fracture: Fracture crack propagation is along grain boundaries (grain boundaries
are weakened or embrittled by impurities segregation etc.)

Stress Concentration
Fracture strength of a brittle solid is related to the cohesive forces between atoms. One can estimate
that the theoretical cohesive strength of a brittle material should be ~ E/10. But experimental fracture
strength is normally E/100 - E/10,000.
This much lower fracture strength is explained by the effect of stress concentration at microscopic flaws. The
applied stress is amplified at the tips of micro-cracks, voids, notches, surface scratches, corners, etc. that are
called stress raisers. The magnitude of this amplification depends on micro-crack orientations, geometry
and dimensions.

Figure by N. Bernstein & D. Hess, NRL

 For a l ong crack ori ent ed perpendicular to the applied stress the maximum stress near the crack tip
is:
𝑎 0.5
𝜎𝑚 ≈ 2𝜎0 ( )
𝜌𝑡
where σ0 is the applied external stress, a is the half-length of the crack, and ρt the radius of curvature of
the crack tip. (note that a is half-length of the internal flaw, but the full length for a surface flaw)

𝜎𝑚 𝑎 0.5
The stress concentration factor is: 𝐾𝑡 = 𝜎0
≈ 2 (𝜌 )
𝑡

Crack propagation

Cracks with sharp tips propagate easier than crack having blunt tips
𝑎 0 .5
𝜎𝑚 ≈ 2𝜎0 ( )
𝜌𝑡

In ductile materials, plastic deformation at a crack tip “blunts” the crack.

deformed region

brittle
ductile
Energy balance on the crack

Elastic strain energy:

✓ energy stored in material as it is elastically deformed

✓ this energy is released when the crack propagates

✓ creation of new surfaces requires energy

critical stress for crack propagation

2𝐸𝛾𝑠 0.5
𝜎𝑐 = ( ) Griffith’s Criterion
𝜋𝑎

γs = specific surface energy

for ductile materials γs should be replaced with γs + γp
where γp is plastic deformation energy
Impact Fracture Testing (testing fracture characteristics under high strain rates)
Two standard tests, the Charpy and Izod, measure the impact energy (the energy required to fracture a test
piece under an impact load), also called the notch toughness.

Ductile-to-brittle transition
As temperature decreases a ductile material can become brittle - ductile-to-brittle transition
Alloying usually increases the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature. FCC metals remain ductile down
to very low temperatures. For ceramics, this type of transition occurs at much higher temperatures than
for metals.
The ductile-to-brittle transition can be measured by impact testing: the impact energy needed for fracture
drops suddenly over a relatively narrow temperature range – temperature of the ductile-to-brittle transition.
Impact Energy FCC metals (e.g., Cu, Ni)

BCC metals (e.g., iron at T < 914ºC)

polymers

Brittle
More Ductile

High strength materials ( σ y > E/150)

Ductile-to-brittle

transition temperature

Ductile-to-brittle transition

Low temperatures can severely embrittle steels. The Liberty ships, produced in great numbers during
the WWII were the first all-welded ships. A significant number of ships failed by catastrophic fracture. Fatigue
cracks nucleated at the corners of square hatches and propagated rapidly by brittle fracture.
“Dynamic" Brittle-to-Ductile Transition (not tested)
(from molecular dynamics simulation of crack propagation)

Ductile

Brittle V. Bulatov et al., Nature 391, #6668, 669 (1998)

Fatigue (Failure under fluctuating / cyclic stresses)

Under fluctuating / cyclic stresses, failure can occur at loads considerably lower than tensile or yield strengths
of material under a static load: Fatigue
Estimated to causes 90% of all failures of metallic structures (bridges, aircraft, machine components, etc.)
Fatigue failure is brittle-like (relatively little plastic deformation) - even in normally ductile materials. Thus,
sudden and catastrophic!
Applied stresses causing fatigue may be axial (tension or compression), flextural (bending) or torsional
(twisting).
Fatigue failure proceeds in three distinct stages: crack initiation in the areas of stress concentration (near stress
raisers), incremental crack propagation, final catastrophic failure.
Fatigue: Cyclic Stresses (I)

Periodic and
symmetrical about
zero stress

Periodic and
asymmetrical about
zero stress

Random stress
fluctuations
Cyclic stresses are characterized by maximum, minimum and mean stress, the range of stress, the stress
amplitude, and the stress ratio

Mean stress: σm = (σmax + σmin) / 2

Range of stress: σr = (σmax - σmin)

Stress amplitude: σa = σr/2 = (σmax - σmin) / 2

Stress ratio: R = σmin / σmax

Remember the convention that tensile stresses are positive, compressive stresses are negative
 Fatigue: S — N curves (I) (stress — number of cycles to failure)

Fatigue properties of a material (S-N curves) are tested in rotating-bending tests in fatigue testing

apparatus:

Result is commonly plotted as S (stress) vs. N (number of cycles to failure)

Low cycle fatigue: high loads, plastic and elastic deformation

5
High cycle fatigue: low loads, elastic deformation (N > 10 )

Fatigue limit (endurance limit) occurs for some materials (e.g. some Fe and Ti alloys). In this case, the S—
N curve becomes horizontal at large N. The fatigue limit is a maximum stress amplitude below which the
material never fails, no matter how large the number of cycles is.
 In most alloys, S decreases continuously with N. In this case the fatigue properties are described by
7
Fatigue strength: stress at which fracture occurs after a specified number of cycles (e.g. 10 )
Fatigue life: Number of cycles to fail at a specified stress level

Fatigue: Crack initiation and propagation

Three stages of fatigue failure:
✓ crack initiation in the areas of stress concentration (near stress raisers)

✓ incremental crack propagation

✓ final rapid crack propagation after crack reaches critical size

The total number of cycles to failure is the sum of cycles at the first and the second stages:
N =N +N
f i p
Nf : Number of cycles to failure
Ni : Number of cycles for crack initiation
Np : Number of cycles for crack propagation

High cycle fatigue (low loads): Ni is relatively high. With increasing stress level, Ni decreases and Np
dominates
 Crack initiation at the sites of stress concentration (microcracks, scratches, indents, interior corners,
dislocation slip steps, etc.). Quality o f surface is important.

Crack propagation
Stage I: initial slow propagation along
crystal planes with high resolved shear stress.
Involves just a few grains, and has flat
fracture surface

Stage II: faster propagation perpendicular to the

applied stress. Crack grows by repetitive
blunting and sharpening process at crack tip.
Rough fracture surface.

Crack eventually reaches critical dimension and propagates very rapidly

Factors that affect fatigue life
Magnitude of stress (mean, amplitude...)
Quality of the surface (scratches, sharp transitions).
Solutions:
Polishing (removes machining flaws etc.)
Introducing compressive stresses (compensate for applied tensile stresses) into thin surface layer by
“Shot Peening”- firing small shot into surface to be treated. High-tech solution - ion implantation,
laser peening.
Case Hardening - create C- or N- rich outer layer in steelsby atomic diffusion from the surface.
Makes harder outer layer and also introduces compressive stresses

Optimizing geometry - avoid internal corners, notches etc.

shot
C-rich gas
put
surface
into
compression
shot peening carburizing
 Factors that affect fatigue life: environmental effects
Thermal Fatigue. Thermal cycling causes expansion and contraction, hence thermal stress, if component
is restrained.
Solutions:
eliminate restraint by design
use materials with low thermal expansion coefficients

Corrosion fatigue. Chemical reactions induce pits which act as stress raisers. Corrosion also
enhances crack propagation.
Solutions:
decrease corrosiveness of medium, if possible
add protective surface coating
add residual compressive stresses
Creep
Creep is a time-dependent and permanent deformation of materials when subjected to a constant load at
a high temperature (> 0.4 Tm). Examples: turbine blades, steam generators.

Creep testing:

Furnace
 Stages of creep

1. Instantaneous deformation, mainly elastic.

2. Primary/transient creep. Slope of strain vs. time decreases with time: work-hardening
3. Secondary/steady-state creep. Rate of straining is constant: balance of work-hardening and
recovery.
4. Tertiary. Rapidly accelerating strain rate up to failure: formation of internal cracks, voids, rain
boundary separation, necking, etc.

Parameters of creep behavior

 The stage of secondary/steady-state creep is of longest duration and the steady-state creep rate
̇
𝜀𝑠 = 𝛥𝜀/𝛥𝑡

is the most important parameter of the creep behavior in long-life applications.

Another parameter, especially important in short-life creep situations, is time to rupture, or the rupture

lifetime, tr.

Creep: stress and temperature effects

With increasing stress or temperature:
The instantaneous strain increases
The steady-state creep rate increases
The time to rupture decreases
The stress/temperature dependence of the steady-state creep rate can be described by
𝑄𝑐
𝜀𝑠̇ = 𝐾2 𝜎 𝑛 exp (− )
𝑅𝑇
where Qc is the activation energy for creep, K2 and n are material constants.
(Remember the Arrhenius dependence on temperature for thermally activated processes that we
discussed for diffusion)
Mechanisms of Creep
Different mechanisms are responsible for creep in different materials and under different loading and
temperature conditions. The mechanisms include
✓ Stress-assisted vacancy diffusion
✓ Grain boundary diffusion
✓ Grain boundary sliding
✓ Dislocation motion
Different mechanisms result in different values of n, Qc.

Grain boundary diffusion Dislocation glide and climb

Alloys for high-temperature use (turbines in jet engines, hypersonic airplanes, nuclear
reactors, etc.)
Creep is generally minimized in materials with:
✓ High melting temperature
✓ High elastic modulus
✓ Large grain sizes (inhibits grain boundary sliding)
Following alloys are especially resilient to creep:
✓ Stainless steels

✓ Refractory metals (containing elements of high melting point, like Nb, Mo, W, Ta)

✓ “Superalloys” (Co, Ni based: solid solution hardening and secondary phases)