Chapter 8 Failure

Fracture
Introduction
Fundamentals of fracture
Ductile fracture
Brittle fracture
Principles of fracture mechanics
Impact fracture testing

Introduction

Failure modes
• fracture: a body is separated into two or more pieces
in response to static imposed stress
• fatigue: material failures occur under repeated
dynamic and fluctuating stresses
• creep: deformation occurs at elevated temperature

1
 Fundamental of fracture

Very Moderate
Fracture modes: ductile Brittle
ductile

Warning before No warning

fracture before
fracture

Examples: failure of a pipe

2
 Ductile fracture

Necking Void Void growth

nucleation and linkage
Evolution to failure

Crack
propagation Fracture

Ductile fracture (continue)

Cup-and-cone Aluminum Mild steel

fracture Ductile fracture Brittle fracture

Scanning
electron
fractograph

3
 Brittle fracture

intergranular
transgranular

Brittle fracture surfaces

• Intergranular • Intragranular
(between grains) (within grains)

304 S. Steel 316 S.

(metal) Steel (metal)

160µm
4 mm

Polypropylene Al Oxide
(polymer) (ceramic)
.)

3µm

4
 Ideal vs real materials

Stress-strain behavior (Room T):

σ perfect mat’l-no flaws
E/10
carefully produced glass fiber

E/100 typical ceramic typical strengthened metal

typical polymer
0.1 ε
DaVinci (500 yrs ago!) observed...

Reasons:

Flaws are stress concentrators

Elliptical hole in • Stress distrib. in front of a hole:

a plate: σo  a 
σ max ≈ σo 2 + 1
 ρt 
σ

2a
ρt

Stress conc. factor:

Large Kt promotes failure:
NOT
SO K t =3 BAD! K t >> 3
BAD

5
 Engineering fracture design

Avoid sharp corners!

σ
max
Stress Conc. Factor, K t =
σo σ
o
2.5
w
σmax
2.0 increasing w/h
r, h
fillet 1.5
radius
1.0 r/h
0 0.5 1.0
sharper fillet radius

When does a crack propagate?

Result: σ tip =
K
σ tip
2πx

Crack propagates when: increasing K

distance, x,
from crack tip

6
 Geometry, load, &, material

Condition for crack propagation:

K ≥ Kc

Values of K for some standard loads & geometries:

σ σ

units of K :

2a MPa m a
2a
or ksi in

K = σ πa K = 1.1σ πa

FRACTURE TOUGHNESS
Graphite/
Metals/ Composites/
Ceramics/ Polymers
Alloys fibers
Semicond
100
C-C (|| fibers) 1
70 Steels
60 Ti alloys
50
40
Al alloys
30 Mg alloys
0.5 )

20
Al/Al oxide(sf) 2
Y2 O 3 /ZrO 2 (p) 4 K cmetals
KIc (MPa · m

10 C/C ( fibers) 1
increasing

Al oxid/SiC(w) 3
Si nitr/SiC(w) 5 comp
7
6
Diamond
Al oxid/ZrO 2 (p) 4 Kc
Si carbide Glass/SiC(w) 6
5 Al oxide PET
cer poly
Kc ≈ Kc
4 Si nitride
PP
3 PVC

2 PC

1 <100>
Si crystal PS Glass 6
<111>
0.7 Glass -soda
0.6 Polyester
Concrete
0.5 11

7
 Design against crack growth

Crack growth condition: K ≥ Kc

Largest, most stressed cracks grow first!

a max
σ
fracture fracture
no no
fracture a max fracture σ

Design examples: Aircraft wing

Material has Kc = 26 MPa-m0.5

Two designs to consider...

Kc
Use... σc =
Y πa max
Key point: Y and Kc are the same in both designs.

13

8
 Impact fracture testing

Impact testing
techniques
• Charpy
• Izod
• impact energy

Ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT)

Increasing temperature...

(e.g ., Cu, Ni)

FCC metals
BCC metals (e.g., iron at T < 914C)
Impact Energy

polymers
Brittle More Ductile
High strength materials ( σ y >E/150)

Temperature
Ductile-to-brittle
transition temperature

9
 Design strategy: stay above the DBTT!

Pre-WWII: The Titanic WWII: Liberty ships

Problem: Used a type of steel with a DBTT ~ Room temp.

Summary

10