Lecture Notes 5: Fracture, Brittle

Ductile Transition

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 Fracture
• Fracture is the separation or fragmentation
of a solid body in 2 or several parts
• Ductile fracture: appreciable plastic
deformation prior to and during the
propagation of the crack
• Brittle fracture: rapid rate of crack
propagation with no gross deformation and
very little microdeformation

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• Tendency to brittle fracture increased with:
– Decreasing Temperature
– Increasing Strain Rate
– Presence of a notch ( triaxial stress conditions)

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• Classification of fracture

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• Shear fracture: Result of extensive slip on the
active slip plane (shear stress)
– Surface fracture appears gray or fibrous
• Cleavage fracture: controlled by tensile stress
– Surface fracture is bright or granular
• Fracture surfaces are a mixture of fibrous and
granular fracture

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• Based on metallographic examination,
fractures in polycrystalline materials are:
– Transgranular (crack propagates through the
grains)
– Intergranular (crack propagates along the grain
boundary)

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 Theoretical cohesive strength of
metals
• Metals are important in technology because
of their high strength combined with a certain
measure of plasticity
• Strength is due to the cohesive forces
between atoms
• High forces are related to:
– large elastic constant
– High melting points
– Small coefficient of expansion
Interatomic spacing is a0

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• If crystal is subjected to a tensile force
– Separation between atoms will increase
• Repulsive force decreases more rapidly with
increased separation than the attractive force
– Net force between atoms balances the tensile load
• As tensile force increases, repulsive force
decreases
• Attractive force increases because of the increased
separation of the atoms
– Maximum in the curve = theoretical cohesive strength
• Approximation:

• is the displacement in atomic spacing in a

lattice with wavelength
• is the interatomic spacing of the atoms in the
unstrained condition

• For small displacement

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• For brittle elastic solid:

• Therefore:

• With reasonable assumption

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• During brittle fracture, all the work expended
in producing the fracture goes into the
creation of 2 new surfaces
• Each of the surface has a surface energy of
• The work done per unit area of surface to
create the fracture is the area under the stress
displacement curve:

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• But this energy is equal to the energy required to
create 2 surfaces so

• Or

• Substituting:

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• Estimates of are in the range of E/15
- E/4 using expression for the force
displacement curve complicated methods
rather than the sine wave approximation

• Conveniently

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• Experience with high strength steel shows that a
fracture strength higher than 2 Gpa is exceptional

• Engineering materials typically have fracture

stresses that are 10 to 1000 times lower that the
theoretical value

• Conclusion: flaws or cracks are responsible for

the difference between the theoretical and
experimental value of the fracture strength

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• we assume that can be reached locally at the
crack tip while the average tensile stress is at a much
lower value

• Maximum stress at the tip of the crack

• Using

• The nominal fracture stress is

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• The sharpest possible crack would be one
where

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 Griffith theory of brittle fracture
• Applied to perfectly brittle material

• “A crack will propagate when the decrease of

in elastic strain energy is at least equal to the
energy required to create the new crack
surface”

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• A decrease in strain energy results from the
formation of a crack

• Surface energy due to crack

• Total change of energy:

• According to Griffith, the crack will propagate

when

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• Stress required for crack propagation

– Fracture stress is inversely proportional to the

square root of the crack length
– Increasing the crack length by a factor of 4
reduces the fracture stress by one-half

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• For a plate which is thick compared with the
length of the crack, Griffith equation is:

• Equation is equiv.

• Or

Griffith equation when

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• is the lower limit of the effective
radius of an elastic crack
• the stress to produce brittle
fracture is given by

• the fracture stress is given by

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• Griffith theory shows a strong dependence of
fracture strength on crack length
• Not applicable to metal (plastic deformation
before brittle fracture)
• The fracture stress of a material which
undergoes plastic deformation is greater than
that of a truly brittle material
• Plastic deformation at the root of the crack
would be expected to blunt the tip of the crack
and increase thus increasing the fracture
stress
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• Ottowan suggested a Griffith brittle fracture
model by including the plastic work required
to extend the crack wall

• The surface energy is neglected because

is about
compared to of about

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Fracture of single crystal

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• Under certain conditions, hcp metals tested at
room temperature or above will shear only on
restricted number of basal planes. Fracture
will occur by “shearing off”

• Slip will occur on systems other that the basal

plane so that the crystal necks down and
draws down almost to a point before rupture
occurs
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• The usual mode of fracture in fcc crystals is the
formation of a necked region due to multiple slip,
followed by slipped of one set of planes until
fracture occurs
• The best stress criterion for ductile fracture in fcc
metals is the resolved shear stress on the fracture
plane (which is usually the slip plane)
• The mode of fracture in bcc iron crystal is strongly
dependent on temperature, purity, heat
treatment and crystal orientation.
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 Metallographic aspects of fracture
• Microcracks exist in metal and they do not
necessary produce brittle fracture
• However they contribute to the anisotropy of
the metal
• Correlation between plastic deformation,
microcracks and brittle fracture made by Low
– Mild steel of a given grain size tested at 77 K,
brittle fracture occurs in tension at the same value
of stress required to produce yielding in
compression
– Microcracks only one or two grains observed

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• More tests made with tensile test on mild
steel at subzero temperatures

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• Cracks responsible for brittle-cleavage-type
fracture not initially present in the material.
They are produced in the deformation process
• Process of cleavage fracture:
– Plastic deformation to produce dislocation pile-
ups
– Crack initiation
– Crack propagation

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• Initiation of microcracks influenced by the
presence and nature of second phase
particles. Ex: particle crack during deformation
• Resistance to cracking improve if the particle
is well bonded to the matrix
• Small particles and spherical particles
are more resistant to cracking

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• If the dispersion of second-phase particles
is cut by the dislocations, there is planar
slip and large dislocation pile-ups occur
• This lead to high stresses, easy initiation of
microcracks and brittle behavior.

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• If the second phase is constituted of fine and
impenetrable dispersed particles, the slip
distance is greatly reduced and the number of
dislocations that can be sustained in a pile-up
is reduced.
• Once cracks are form, they bow between the
particles, increasing the interfacial energy
• Thus fine-dispersed particles can lead to
increased toughness
• A soft ductile phase can impart ductility in a
brittle material
• Most brittle fractures occur in transgranular
manner

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• However, if the grain boundaries contain a
film of brittle constituent, intergranular
fracture can occur
• Example: Sensitized austenitic stainless steel
or molybdenum alloys containing oxygen,
nitrogen or carbon
• Intergranular fracture can occur without the
presence of a microscopically visible precipitate
at the grain boundary
• Segregation at the grain boundary can lower the
surface energy sufficiently to cause intergranular
failure
• Ductile fracture starts with the initiation of voids
mostly in second phase particles
• Particles geometry, size and bonding with the
matrix are important parameters
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• Character of slip influences the fracture
behavior
• Cross slip of screw dislocations broadens
the slip bands and makes it difficult to
crack a particle when the slip bands
impinges upon this obstacle

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• Cleavage crack can be nucleated at mechanical
twins:
– Ex: Bcc twinning becomes the preferred
deformation mechanism at low temperature and
high rate of deformation. Important crack
initiation sites are the intersections of twins with
other twins and the intersection of twins with
grain boundaries
 Fractography
• Microscope observations of fracture
• Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
• Fracture modes observed:
– Cleavage (brittle fracture along crystallographic
planes); flat facets
– Quasi cleavage (facets are not true cleavage)
– Dimple rupture; cup-like depressions

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 Dislocation theory to brittle fracture
• Process of brittle fracture consist of 3 stages:
– Plastic deformation which involves the pile of disl.
along their slip planes at an obstacle
– Build up of shear stress at the head of the pile-up
to nucleate a microcrack
– In some cases, the stored elastic energy drives the
microcrack to complete fracture without further
dislocation movement in the pile-up

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• In metals, a distinct growth stage is observed;
An increased stress required to propagate the
microcrack
– Fracture stress is then the stress required to
propagate the microcracks

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• High stresses at the head of the disl. pile-up
can produce fracture
• The shear stress acting on the slip plane
squeezes the disl. together
• At some critical value, the disl. at the head of
pile-up are pushed closed together so they
coalesce into a wedge crack or cavity
dislocation of height nb and length 2c

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• Provided the stress concentration is not
relieved by plastic deformation, Stroh has
shown that:

• Microcracks occur at:

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• The number of dislocation is expressed by: (Eq. 5.37)

• Then:

• The crack will form when the work done by the applied
shear stress in producing a displacement nb equals the
work done in moving a dislocations against the friction
stress plus the work done in producing the new
fracture surface

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• In most engineering materials, the most difficult step is
the propagation of deformation-produced microcracks
through a strong barrier such as the grain boundary
• Petch found the grain size dependence on brittle
fracture in iron

• This equation represents the stress required to

propagate a microcrack of length D in brittle fracture
• k’ is a parameter related to release of disl. from pile-
ups.

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• Carbides play an important role in producing
brittle fracture
• The criterion of fracture in microstructure of
grain size D and carbide thickness t is:

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Theory of the ductile to brittle transition

• DTB (Ductile To Brittle) fracture is an

important engineering phenomenon that
occurs in bcc materials
• Cottrel Equation

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• Cottrel equation expresses the limiting
condition of a propagating crack from a pile-
up of glide disl.
• If the LHS < RHS, a microcrack can form but it
cannot grow
• LHS > RHS, a propagating brittle fracture can
be produced at a shear stress equal to the
yield stress
• Thus this equation describe a DTBTransition
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• Since many metallurgical parameters change with
temperature there would be a transition
temperature at which the fracture would change
from ductile to brittle
• Parameter k’ determines the number of disl. that
are released into the pile-up when a source is
unblocked
• Materials with high value of k’ such as iron and
molybdenum are more prone to brittle fracture
than materials with lower values ( colombium,
tantalum)

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• Strengthening mechanisms which depend on
disl. locking likely result in brittle fracture
• Fine carbides precipitates in quenched and
tempered steels cause short slip distance, thus
lower transition temperature for this material
• High value of frictional resistance leads to
brittleness since high stresses must be
reached before yielding occurs.

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• Directional bonding in ceramics result in higher
and high inherent hardness and brittleness
• In bcc metals, the frictional resistance increases
rapidly as the temperature falls below RT and
thus leads to DTBT
• Fine-grain metal can withstand high values of
before becoming brittle
• If the effective surface energy is large at a given
temperature then brittle fracture is suppressed
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• The contribution from plastic deformation
depends on the number of slip systems and the
number of mobile disl. at the tip of the crack
• Zinc is brittle in large grain size because of its
limited slip systems
• Bcc metals can be brittle because impurities lock
most of the mobile disl.
• Neither of these conditions exist in fcc metals and
they do not ordinarily fail in brittle fracture
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• Various environmental factors can lower the
surface energy ( Ex. corrosion, hydrogen
penetration)
• Presence of notches increases the tendency to
brittle failure
• Strain rate and rate of loading are not explicit
in the equation
• However, increasing strain rate raises both

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• Strain rate interact with the notch effect
• The deformation is localized in the vicinity of
the notch there is a train-concentration effect
and the local strain is much higher than the
average value

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Ductile fracture

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• A combination of applied tensile stress and
concentrated shear zone are required to
initiate voids

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Notch effect

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• Strain concentration determined by:

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• Notches produce high and locally concentrated
strain
• The strain hardening effect can lead to ductile
void formation that can become converted into
brittle cracks
• Local strain rate at notch is much higher than the
average strain rate
• Since brittle fracture depends on strain rate, this
can be an important but easily overlooked factor
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Fracture curve

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Effect of high hydrostatic pressure on
fracture

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Lecture Notes 5 -2 FRACTURE
MECHANICS

1
 Introduction
• Last lecture provided an overview of the
fracture in metals
• Theoretical cohesive strength much higher
than the fracture stress
• Cracks raise the stress to the level of the
fracture stress
• Critical step is reached when the crack
propagate to complete fracture

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• Griffith Theory of brittle fracture modified by
Orowan to allow plastic deformation present
in brittle fracture of metals

• Modified by Irwin:

• Where correspond to a critical value of

the crack-extension force

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• The critical value of which makes the
crack to propagate to fracture is called
the fracture toughness of the material

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 Strain-Energy Release rate
• How is measure?

• Load versus displacement curve

• M is the stiffness of the specimen with a crack
length a
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• Elastic strain is the area of the curve

• Since the specimen is gripped

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The fracture toughness, or critical strain-energy
release rate is determined from the load, Pmax at
which the crack runs unstably to fracture.

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Stress intensity factor

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• Irwin: Stress Intensity Factor

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• If r approaches to zero, local stresses at the
crack tip are very high
• This does not happen because of plastic
deformation at the crack tip
• Value of K can be calculated with theory of
elasticity

• is a parameter that depends on the

specimen and crack geometry
• Example
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• K is preferred in working to fracture
mechanics as it can be determined

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 Fracture toughness and design

• KIC represents the fracture toughness of the

material independent of crack length, or
loading system

• It is a material property
• If the material is selected, KIC is fixed.

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• If we allow for the presence of a relatively
large stable crack, then the design stress is
fixed and must be less than KIC.
• On the other hand, if high strength and light
weight are required, KIC is fixed. The stress
level must be kept high. Therefore, the
allowable flaw size will be small, often below
the level at which it can be detected with
inspection techniques.

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Examples

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Example

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 KIC Plane-Strain toughness testing

• The minimum thickness to achieve plane-strain condition

with valid KIC measurements is:

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 Example
Is it possible to conduct a valid plane strain fracture toughness test for a CrMoV
steel alloy under the following conditions: K =53MPa√ m, σys = 620 MPa,
IC
W = 6 cm and plate thickness, B = 2.5 cm?
 Example
• Identical compact tension specimens have been prepared
to determine the fracture toughness of the 7178 aluminum
alloy, subjected to 2 different heat treatments. The crack
length and thickness of the samples are 4 cm and 1 cm
respectively. From the data shown below for 7178-T651
and 7178-T7651, would the specimen dimensions
described above, provide valid plane-strain fracture
toughness conditions?

Condition
7178-T651 23.1 570
7178-T7651 33 490
 Example
A rod of soda-lime-silica glass is rigidly
constrained at 400°K and then cooled rapidly to
300°K. Assume that E=70 GPa, σts=90 MPa,
α=8×10–6K–1, and KIC =0.8MPa√ m.
(a) With no visible surface damage, could you
expect the rod to survive this quench?
(b)If the glass rod contained a 1-mm scratch that
was oriented perpendicular to the axis of the
rod, would your answer to part (a) be the same?
(a)

(b)