Micro- and macroscopic fracture mechanisms

Even just a view with naked eyes of a fracture surface gives some information on the
fracture mechanism that had operated during failure of the part: nucleation site, growth
direction, amount of plasticity involved, crystallinty,

Examples of macroscopic fracture surfaces suggesting features about fracture mode

Chapter 2 - 1
Microstructural aspects of failure
A first distinction involves fracture modes according to ductile mechanisms associated to
microvoid development, and brittle mode, by cleavage or integranular decohesion.
Theoretically, one would expect to have the ductile failure of a metal by extensive shearing
along slip planes, but this usually occurs only in theory or with pure-metal single crystals.

In a real (engineering) metal, before this happens, an alternative damage mechanism

takes place

I - Ductile fracture by microvoid development

Schematic of failure of metals by void nucleation and coalescence mechanism

Chapter 2 - 2
The failure mechanisms in engineering ductile metallic alloys is based on several common
steps:
Nucleation of voids by fracture of second-phase particles or by decohesion at their
interface with matrix
onset of voids by achievement of a stress limit
onset of voids by achievement of a strain limit
onset of voids by achievement of critical absorbed energy
Growth of microvoids (large Energy consumption)
by plastic deformation of ligaments left among voids
by development of secondary and finer voids within ligaments
Coalescence of microvoids and failure by ligament instability

Schematics of void initiation mechanisms

Void nucleation by decohesion at interface (left) or by particle cracking (right)

Chapter 2 - 3
 Schematics of ligament fracture due to plastic strain

A model material used to study void coalescence in an Al alloy

Chapter 2 - 4
The occurrence of deformed microvoids along preferred directions gives information about
loading direction and about crack growth direction as well.

Void deformation due to different contribution of shear and triaxiality in a tensile specimen
Even in a simple tensile test, the cup-and-cone macroscopic appearance represents the
different strain paths that the material is subjected to, due to different triaxiality conditions
on surfaces and at centre.
At centre, the grains are mainly deformed under plain strain condition (they cannot deform
freely along radial direction) and there, the first voids will normally nucleate. Close to
surfaces, the material is able to deform also along the radial direction (plain stress),
therefore strain preferentially occurs at 45 by shear. The void shape suggests the
preferential straining direction, as also shown in the picture below.

Chapter 2 - 5
Chapter 2 - 6
The following scanning electron microscope (SEM) fractographs depict typical
microstructural features of ductile fracture surfaces found in metals.

Nucleation and coalescence of microvoids starting from globular inclusions in a steel. Note
ligaments of steel matrix that appear irregularly shaped on their walls do to extensive
plastic deformation before final fracture.

Coarse voids can be noticed along with a large amount of much smaller dimples. After
easy nucleation of voids from larger inclusions, accumulation of strain eventually led to
micro-dimple formation within matrix ligaments from smaller particles.

Chapter 2 - 7
High magnification image of a small-dimple region of the previous fractograph. The dimple
size here is of the order of 1 micrometer or less.

Chapter 2 - 8
II Brittle cleavage and intergranular fracture
In brittle cleavage fracture, cracks generate after almost fully elastic straining, giving a
catastrophic material failure. When a critical stress is locally exceeded somewhere in the
material volume, the so formed crack propagates almost instantaneously, leading to
fracture.
The cleavage (transgranular) mechanism is activated when a critical stress value is
exceeded at the tip of a pre-existing defect where peak stresses cannot be redistributed by
plasticity. Very high local stress causes decohesion of atomic bonds. Unstable growth then
follows along specific crystallographic planes of the structure.
The cleavage process features the following aspects:
Fracture develops along flat surfaces corresponding to crystalline planes of grains;
light is reflected by these tiny flat surfaces (macroscopic feature: crystallinity)
Low energy absorption
It generally occurs in BCC and HCP crystals strained at low temperatures, high
strain rates, triaxial stresses, subjected to embrittlement phenomena

Schematic of cleavage fracture mechanism

Alternatively, the intergranular fracture occurs when cracks find a preferential path along
grain boundaries that are weakened by some metallurgical embrittling phenomena such
as:
Easy nucleation of very fine microvoids at grain boundaries due to precipitates that
had formed along these surfaces (actually it is a matter of ductile mechanism that
leads to poor toughness and ductility properties in metals)
Grain boundary sliding and cracking
Early decohesion at grain boundaries due to impurity segregation

Chapter 2 - 9
The following (SEM) fractographs depict typical microstructural features of brittle fracture
surfaces found in metals.

Cleavage fracture crack that nucleated from a small second phase

particle at centre of image

Almost parallel cleavage facets separated by steps, depicting cracks that propagated
preferentially along specific crystal planes

Chapter 2 - 10
 Intergranular fracture due to grain boundary decohesion
(hydrogen embrittlement in a steel)

Intergranular fracture by formation of very fine microvoids along grain boundaries

Chapter 2 - 11
Toughening mechanisms in metals
From what discussed it follows that, to improve toughness of a metallic alloy, one must try
to prevent the development of the above described mechanisms responsible for brittle
fracture.
Toughening of an already ductile metal: inclusions and second-phase particles should be
limited to a minimum and reduced in size, so as to prevent or delay as much as possible
void nucleation and growth phenomena.

The graph shows the direct relation between tensile ductility (reduction of area at fracture)
and the volume fraction of second-phase particles
Toughening of brittle materials: cracks should have few sites where they can potentially
nucleate and should be forced to propagate along tortuous paths in order to increase the
overall energy absorbed for fracture.
Some metallurgical features that can affect toughness are listed below.
Intrinsic mechanisms (use of suitable tough constituents in alloy structure)
Reduction in size of precipitates and inclusions
Reduction of grain size
Formation of small amounts of retained austenite in quenched and tempered steels
Increase of volume fraction of tough second-phase particles
Extrinsic mechanisms (promotion of a tortuous crack path to improve absorbed energy)
Microscopic effects: related to possibility of affecting crack path by residual stresses
or particle distribution
Mesoscopic effects: trying to exploit the fibrous texture of some manufacts

Chapter 2 - 12
Examples of extrinsic (microscopic) mechanisms are covered in the figure below. Methods
described at point 1 and 2 hold both for static and fatigue loading whereas methods at
point 3 are only for fatigue.

Examples of extrinsic toughening methods

In 1, microstructures having second phases with suitable size are promoted, so as to

oppose to the stress field of the crack, deviating it from a straight trajectory. A tortuous
crack can also be promoted by having small particles that, by breaking due to crack tip
stress, affect the crack path.
In 2, the stress field ahead of the crack tip is reduced by phase transformation, by
controlled development of microcracks or microvoids.
In 3, under dynamic loading, improvement in fatigue resistance is achieved by preventing
cracks from full closure during compression cycles, so that the overall material feels less
intense (lower stress amplitude of cycles) fatigue loads.

Chapter 2 - 13
Mesoscopic effects in presence of fibrous texture (fibering)
Toughness improves when cracks are deviated from their natural path (normal to principal
stress direction) by grain boundaries, elongated stringers of inclusions, or in general by
fibering of plastically deformed metals.

Positive effects of delamination on reduction of crack tip triaxiality

Chapter 2 - 14
 Examples of interaction between crack and fibering
according to different reciprocal orientation
Example (a), similar to the previous figure, supplies a first example of improved ductility
promoted by exploitation of fibering.
Case (b) represents a crack divider effect. It is shown that in presence of parallel thin
sheets or of an elongated pancake structure instead of a bulk metal with the same
volume (thickness), advantages can be reached since plane stress conditions can be set
even for thick parts (hence keeping z = 0).
Case (c) is the worst possible situation since cracks are drawn along straight paths by the
aligned interfaces.
Further data about measured toughness (Charpy Impact energy) for the different
configurations above mentioned are given below.

Chapter 2 - 15
 Transition curves measured on laminate specimens
according to the crack arrester configuration

Possible effects related to interaction of loading direction with fibering orientation. Red is
negative and dangerous, blue is positive
The above figure shows the complex fibering path found in a forged steel part. The main
stress direction should conveniently lie parallel to fibres (blue arrow). Condition of loading
normal to fibers (red arrow) should be avoided when possible.

Chapter 2 - 16