FRACTURE

Fracture is the separation, or fragmentation,

of a solid body into two or more parts under
the action of stress.
Process of fracture- with two componentsCRACK INITIATION CRACK PROPAGATION
FRACTURE
DUCTILE

BRITTLE

Fracture Behavior of Bulk Crystalline

Materials
Fundamentals of Fracture
Ductile Fracture
Brittle Fracture
Crack Initiation and Propagation
Fracture Mechanics
Fracture Toughness
Design

Fundamentals of Fracture
A separation of an object into two or more
pieces in response to active stresses far below
the melting temperature of the material.
Atoms on the surface of a material give rise to
a surface energy
Stems from the open bonds on the outer atoms
Grain boundaries also contain a surface energy due to
the large number of open bonds

Two steps in the process of fracture:

Crack initiation
Propagation

Fundamentals of Fracture
Simple fracture may occur by one of
two methods, ductile or brittle
Dependent upon the plastic deformation of
the material
Properties which influence the plastic
deformation of a material
Modulus of elasticity
Crystal structure

Fundamentals of Fracture
(a) Highly ductile fracture
(b) Moderately ductile fracture with
necking
Called a cup-and -cone fracture
Most common form of ductile fracture
(c) Brittle fracture
No plastic deformation occurring

Fundamentals of Fracture
(a) Highly ductile fracture
(b) Moderately ductile fracture with
necking
Called a cup-and -cone fracture
Most common form of ductile fracture
(c) Brittle fracture
No plastic deformation occurring

Ductile Fracture
Involves a substantial amount of plastic
deformation and energy absorption before
failure.
Crack propagation occurs very slowly as the
length the crack grows.
Often termed a stable crack, in that it will not
grow further unless additional stress is
applied
The fracture process usually consists of several
stages

Ductile Fracture

(a) Initial necking

(b) Cavity formation
(c) Cavities form a crack
(d) Crack propagation
(e) Final shear
occurs at an angle of 45, where shear
stress is at a maximum

Brittle Fracture
Exhibits little or no plastic deformation and low energy
absorption before failure.
Crack propagation spontaneous and rapid
Occurs perpendicular to the direction of the applied stress, forming
an almost flat fracture surface

Deemed unstable as it will continue to grow without the aid of

additional stresses

Crack propagation across grain boundaries is known as

transgranular, while propagation along grain boundaries
is termed intergranular

Ductile fracture
A pure and inclusion
free metal can
elongate under
tension to give
approx. 100% RA and
a point fracture.
The central fracture
surface consists of
numerous cup-like
depressions generally
called dimples.
Dimple size depends
largely on the number
of inclusion sites.

(a) Stages in ductile fracture from inclusions

(b) Fracture toughness v/s thickness

Dimples in a ductile fracture

of mild steel (x5000)

Intergranular fracture in low

alloy steel (x1500)

Cleavage patterns in HS steel

fracture (x12000)

Fatigue striations in Nimonic

80A (x7000)(A.Strang)

(a) Yield and cohesive stress curves

(b) Slow notch bend test
(c) Effect of temperature on the Izod value of mild steel

Cohesive stress-strain curves, B, N, and F.

If the two curves intersect at Y, brittle fracture occurs
preceded by plastic deformation, which decreases as
the cohesive strength curve becomes lower with
respect to the yield stress-strain curve.
Orowan has shown that if the yield stress is denoted by
Y, the strength for brittle fracture by B (both Y and B
depend on the plastic strain), and the initial value of
Y (for strain = 0) by Y0

The following are the relationships:

The material is brittle if B < Y0;
The material is ductile but notch-brittle if Y0 <
B < 3Y0
The material is not notch-brittle if 3Y < B.

Brittle fracture
Brittle fracture is characterised by the very small
amount of work absorbed and by a crystalline
appearance of the surfaces of fracture, often
with a chevron pattern pointing to the origin of
fracture, due to the formation of discontinuous
cleavage cracks which join up

It can occur at a low stress of 75-120

MPa with great suddenness; the
velocity of crack propagation is
probably not far from that of sound in
the material in this type of fracture
plastic deformation is very small, and
the crack need not open up
considerably in order to propagate, as
is necessary with a ductile failure.

The work required to propagate a crack is given by

Griffith`s formula:

= tensile stress required to propagate

a crack of length c
= surface energy of fracture faces
E = Young`s modulus
Orowan modified the Griffith theory to include
a plastic strain energy factor, p

Initiation and propagation portions of fatigue life

Location of local stresses near a crack tip

in cylindrical coordinates

Mode 1:

Opening or tensile mode (the crack faces are pulled

apart)

Mode 2:

Sliding or in-plane shear (the crack surfaces slide over

each other)

Mode 3:

Tearing or anti-plane shear (the crack surfaces move

parallel to the leading edge of the crack and relative to
each other)

 Most alloys contain second phases which lose

cohesion with the matrix or fracture and the voids so
formed grow as dislocations flow into them.
Coalescence of the voids forms a continuous
fracture surface followed by failure of the remaining
annulus of material usually on plane at 45 to the
tension axis.
The central fracture surface consists of numerous
cup-like depressions generally called dimples.
The shape of the dimples is strongly influenced by
the direction of major stresses-circular in pure
tension and parabolic under shear

Behaviour described

Terms used

Crystallographic mode

Shear

Cleavage

Appearance of Fracture

Fibrous

Granular

Strain to Fracture

Ductile

Brittle

Ref: M.Gensamer

Stress intensity factor

for
(a) Center-cracked
plate loaded in
tension,
(b) Edge-cracked
plate loaded in
tension,
(c) Double-edgecracked plate
loaded in tension
(d) Cracked beam in
pure bending

Plane stress and plane strain conditions

Plane stress

plane strain

Monotonic plastic zone size

plane stress

plane strain

Reversed plastic zone size

TYPICAL FATIGUE STRESS CYCLES

(a) REVERSED (b) REPEATED

(c ) IRREGULAR OR RANDOM

Atomistic Simulation of Brittle Fracture

Image of simulated brittle fracture
Mode I fracture

Crack Initiation and Propagation

Cracks usually initiate at some point of
stress concentration
Common areas include scratches, fillets,
threads, and dents

Propagation occurs in two stages:

Stage I: propagates very slowly along
crystallographic planes of high shear stress and
may constitute either a large or small fraction of
the fatigue life of a specimen
Stage II: the crack growth rate increases and
changes direction, moving perpendicular to the
applied stress

Crack Initiation and Propagation

 Crack Initiation
and Propagation
Double-ended cra
ck simulations

Fracture Mechanics
Uses fracture analysis to determine the critical
stress at which a crack will propagate and
eventually fail
The stress at which fracture occurs in a material
is termed fracture strength
For a brittle elastic solid this strength is
estimated to be around E/10, E being the
modulus of elasticity
This strength is a function of the cohesive
forces between the atoms
Experimental values lie between 10 and 1000
times below this value
These values are a due to very small flaws occurring
throughout the material referred to as stress raisers

Fracture Mechanics
If we assume that the crack is elliptical in shape and
its longer axis perpendicular to the applied stress,
the maximum stress at the crack tip is:

Fracture will occur when the stress level exceeds

this maximum value .

Fracture Mechanics
The ratio m/ 0 is known as the stress
concentration factor, Kt :

It is the degree to which an external stress is

amplified at the tip of a small crack

Griffith Theory of Brittle Fracture

The critical stress required for crack
propagation in a brittle material is given by:

E = modulus of elasticity
gs= specific surface energy
a = half the length of an internal crack

Applies only in cases where there is no

plastic deformation present.

Fracture Toughness
Stresses near the crack tip of a material
can also be characterized by the stress
intensity factor, K,
A critical value of K exists, similar to
the value sc, known as fracture
toughness given by:
Y is a dimensionless parameter that depends
on both the specimen and crack geometries.
Carries the unusual units of

FRACTURE TOUGHNESS

Yielding near crack tip.

Plane Strain Fracture Toughness

Kc depends on the thickness of plate in
question up to a certain point when it becomes
constant
This constant value is known as the plane strain
fracture toughness denoted by:

The I subscript corresponds to a mode I crack

displacement
KIc values are used most often because they
represent the worst case scenario
Brittle materials have low KIc values, giving to catastrophic failure
ductile materials usually have much larger KIc values

KIc depends on temperature, strain rate, and

microstructure
Increases as grain size decreases

Fracture Toughness in Design

There are three crucial factors which must be
considered in designing for fracture:
The fracture toughness (Kc or plane strain KIc)
the imposed stress (s)
and the flaw size (a)

It must be determined first what the limits

and constraints on the variables will be
Once two of them are determined, the third will be
fixed
For example, if the stress level and plane strain
fracture toughness are fixed, then the maximum
allowable flaw size must be:

Ductile Fracture
Involves a substantial amount of plastic
deformation and energy absorption before
failure.
Crack propagation occurs very slowly as the
length the crack grows.
Often termed a stable crack, in that it will not
grow further unless additional stress is
applied
The fracture process usually consists of several
stages

Fracture Mechanics
If we assume that the crack is elliptical in
shape and its longer axis perpendicular to
the applied stress, the maximum stress at the
crack tip is:

Fracture will occur when the stress level

exceeds this maximum value .