Equations for Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics and Fatigue EAE 135, Winter 2006 Classes on 03/06/2006, 03/08/2006

This document provides further information with respect to the presentation file fracture_fatigue_lecture.pdf. 1. Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics LEFM is a methodology that allows you to predict, study and measure fracture toughness. Fracture toughness characterizes the resistance of a material to cracking, and it depends on a variety of factors such as temperature, environment, loading rate etc. Out of the three crack opening modes (see presentation file), the one that is analyzed is Mode I, which is typically more critical from the design standpoint (lower fracture toughness with respect to the Mode II and Mode III fracture toughness. Note that mixed mode is not addressed in this document, but exists).

K I = F S a

(1)

Equation 1 shows the Mode I stress intensity factor, which characterizes the behavior of the material when a crack of length 2a is present in it. F is a factor that depends on the geometry of the specimen and the crack itself, S is the nominal stress. When the stress intensity factor reaches a critical value, the crack grows. The document attached at the end provides some (non-focused) tables that show how F (called Y in the document) changes with respect to the specimens geometry and crack length (divided by the width of the specimen). . As r 0, the r stress should theoretically be infinite, but this is not possible in nature. The material will yield, so there will be a plastic zone at the crack tip. The size of this plastic zone depends on whether, for example, the specimen is subject to a plane strain or a plane stress case. If the specimen has dimensions x, y, z, plane strain corresponds to the case z = 0 (for example, a beam with width z where there is no deformation in the width direction) and plane stress to the case z = 0 (for example, a (x,y) plate where there is no perpendicular loading). In a plane stress problem, the plastic region is found to be larger. However, the plastic region could be even larger than in the case of plane stress if the material has yielded in a great part of the specimen. It is possible to express the stress at a distance r ahead of a crack in terms of Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) is used when the plastic zone ahead of the crack is much smaller than the dimensions of the crack or of the specimen. When this is no longer the case (for example, in a cracked specimen with 80% yielding present), one has to use Elastic

KI

Plastic Fracture Mechanics (EPFM), which is not based on the concepts of stress intensity factors and fracture toughness, but on other more complicated concepts (crack tip opening displacement, J-integral, covered in an advanced Fracture Mechanics course). KIC is the Mode I, plane strain fracture toughness. It is best to use this parameter because this is a material constant. SEE PRESENTATION FOR FURTHER DETAILS 2. Fatigue It is possible to use the same concepts to study crack propagation under fatigue loading. There are other analysis tools that have to do with S-N curves, effect of residual stress, Goodman equations, Miners rule, etc., which are based on predicting fatigue life based on the load history of the structure. These will not be covered here. The approach discussed in this document here is based on fracture mechanics.

Ref: http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Fatigue/Stress_levels.html This is a very common sketch.

The structure is subject to an alternating load, which can be expressed in terms of the so-called stress or load ratio, R, between the minimum nominal stress and the maximum nominal stress (same ratio between minimum load and maximum load):
R= S min P = min S max Pmax

Introducing the stress intensity factor range, K = Kmax Kmin = F S max a F S min a , one can use Paris Equation to characterize crack propagation in terms of this range:

da m = C (K ) dN
da/dN means how crack growth, a, changes with number of cycles, N. C and m are constants, found typically by curve fitting of experimental data. When expressing this equation in a log-log plot, m is the slope of the curve. Fatigue test data is affected by much more scatter than quasistatic test data, so basic statistics has to be taken into consideration. Walkers Equation allows to take into account also the stress ratio in the crack propagation:

da m1 = C1 (K ) dN
where K is a function of the stress ratio R, K and a material constant , and m1 is a different constant from the one used in Paris Equation. Using either equation (say, Paris equation), it is possible to make an assessment of the number of cycles to failure, from a crack that grows from an initial value ai to the final value, af :

da m K = F S a , = C (K ) Nfailure = dN Nfailure = C F S

af

a (f1 m / 2 ) ai(1 m / 2 )
m

ai

C (F S

da am / 2

) (1 m / 2)

m2

(recall that m is a constant obtained from experimental data on a material). A typical crack growth fatigue problem involves the calculation of the number of cycles to failure if a structure is subject to a given fatigue load (given Smax, Smin). The final length af can

1 K IC be calculated knowing the fracture toughness and through iterations , a f = , and the S max initial length could be the minimum crack length detectable with a given inspection method. Another type of problem has to do with how many load cycles will pass before an inspection is able to detect a crack of a given length.
1

Overall, fracture mechanics allows to predict crack propagation. Damage tolerance and fail safe design are based on the assumption that cracks exist in a structure (due to manufacturing process, material defects, residual stresses etc.) and will be allowed to grow within limits, but will be repaired during inspections able to detect them.
F is a function of the specimens geometry and of the crack length, so the procedure to find the crack length corresponding to a given fracture toughness will involve iterations.
1

There are plenty of engineering cases in which inspections failed to do so for a reason or the other. Inspections are expensive and sometimes the area where the crack is growing is not easily accessible. Sometimes the consequences for missing cracks are catastrophic (see examples in the presentation file).

MORE INFO ON STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR FOLLOWING

Stress Intensity

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Stress Intensity

The Liberty Bell (Philadelphia, PA) Jefferson Kim, MSE 2094, Term Project (Edited R.D. Kriz 3-5-00) Stress Intensity Factor, K, is used in fracture mechanics to more accurately predict the stress state ("stress intensity") near the tip of a crack caused by a remote load or residual stresses. When this stress state becomes critical a small crack grows ("extends") and the material fails. The load at which this failure occurs is referred to as the fracture strength. The experimental fracture strength of solid materials is 10 to 1000 times below the theoretical strength values, where tiny internal and external surface cracks create higher stresses near these cracks, hence lowering the theoretical value of strength. The large crack seen in the picture of the Liberty Bell was the result of small cracks and internal residual stresses not known at the time. The original, "as fabricated" cracks were very small and hard to see with naked eyes, and according to Hertzberg, during the war against the British, the bell was polished whenever they saw a crack on the surface. Hardly a solution based on what we understand today. Unlike "stress concentration", Stress Intentsity, K, as the name implies, is a parameter that amplifies the magnitude of the applied stress that includes the geometrical parameter Y (load type). These load types are categorized as Mode-I, -II, or -III. The Mode-I stress intensity factor, K Ic is the most often used engineering design parameter in fracture mechanics and hence must be understood if we are to design fracture tolerant materials used in bridges, buildings, aircraft, or even bells. Polishing just won't do if we detect a crack. Typically for most materials if a crack can be seen it is very close to the critical stress state predicted by the "Stress Intensity Factor".

Stress Analysis of Cracks

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Generally there are three modes to describe different crack surface displacement in Fig.8.3 (Hertzberg, p321). Mode I is opening or tensile mode where the crack surfaces move directly apart. Mode II is sliding or in-plane shear mode where the crack surfaces slide over one another in a direction perpendicular to the leading edge of the crack. Mode III is tearing and antiplane shear mode where the crack surfaces move relative to one another and parallel to the leading edge of the crack. Mode I is the most common load type encountered in engineering design and will be explained here in more detail. The value of the stress intensity factor, K, is a function of the applied stress, the size and the position of the crack as well as the geometry of the solid piece where the cracks are detected, Fig.8.5 (Hertxberg, p323). The tensile stress in X and Y directions, and the shear stress in the X-Y plane can calculated in terms of K and position can be written as: Mode-I

Mode-I

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Fracture Toughness, KIc

Engineers are mostly worried about the brittle fracture because the brittle fractures bring most devastating accidents and happen rapidly, and usually the brittle fractures take place when the applied stress increases such that the stress state at the crack tip reaches a critical value. The fracture toughness can be defined in terms of the stress intensity factor, K, but at a critical stress state. as:

where Y is a dimensionless parameter that depends on both the specimen and crack geometry in Fig8.11(Callister, p193), and the greek symbol "Sigma" is an applied stress and "a" is crack length. Generally, for the elliptical shaped crack,the equation is modified to include the geometry of the crack with three different Y's.

However, Y factor is 1.0 for the plate of infinite width and 1.1 for a plate of semi-infinite width. When the thickness of specimen is very large with respect to the crack length, the stress intensity factor for Mode I is often called the plane strain "Fracture Toughness". This modification of stress intensity into a plane strain fracture toughness parameter can be approximated by a relationship that includes specimen geometry, and yield strength.

Hence the specimen thickness is shown to be the most significant parameter that controls the transition of fracture toughness from "plane stress" to "plane strain", see Fig. 8.12 (Callister, p194).

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The plain strain fracture toughness for Mode I, KIc is also a function of many other factors such as temperature, strain-rate and microstructure. Hence KIc is unique for a particular material and is a fundamental material property so it is a very important consideration for material selection and design.

Designing and Preventing Fracture with KIc

KIc, stress, and Y factor are important variables for engineers to design and to determine the safety of machinery, and often the size of the cracks is a very important factor to make decisions such that the maximum allowable size of the crack can be written as

Also because KIc is unique for a particular material, engineers can use this variable for selecting appropriate materials for a range of different applications. From the table in Appendix B engineers can also decide how much load and stress can be allowed for a particular specimen geometry. This critical information helps engineers to optimize the design and the safety on the operations and to prevent or minimize possible accidents. For example, in aircraft components, there are a lot of rivet holes and small cracks which bring Y calibration factor high up to the critical stress. What engineers do is measure the length of cracks to calculate the maximum cracks length and to compare with safety measurement. They can also make a hole at the tip of cracks, which brings down Y calibration factor and the also the the stress concentration. Additionally, engineers clean the fracture surfaces to prevent further damages. Not only does cleaning lower the Y calibration, but it also helps to protect the surface from undesireable chemical reactions. Various cleaning methods are described in the table below.

Table A.1 (Hertzberg, p752)

Conclusion
Stress intensity and fracture toughness are critically important fracture mechanics parameters used by materials engineers and designers. We saw that there are a lot of factors that determine fracture of a material. KIc is an unique material property, that is used by engineers to design and manufacture products for durability and safe operation.

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Appendix B (Hertzberg, p757) K Calibrations for Typical Test Specimen Geometries

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References
Callister, W. Materials Science and Engieering. John Wiley and Sons, New York1994. Hertzberg, R. Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering Materials. John Wiley and Sons, New York 1996.

Table of Contents
Submitted by Jefferson K. Kim Virginia Tech Materials Science and Engineering http://www.sv.vt.edu/classes/MSE2094_NoteBook/97ClassProj/anal/kim/intensity.html Last updated: 3/5/00

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