STRAIN HARDENING:

When a crystal deforms, there is some distortion of the lattice structure. The distortion is greatest on the slip planes
and grain boundaries and increase with increasing deformation. This is showed by an increase in resistance to further
deformation. The material is said to be undergoing strain hardening or work hardening. In the hardening that is
produced by various process of plastic working such as hammering or rolling, the obstacles are dislocation themselves.
Increase in the number of dislocations act as an obstruction for any further deformation.

EFFECTS OF COLD WORKING ON PROPERTIES:

A material is considered to be cold worked if its grains are in a distorted condition after plastic deformation. All the
properties that are dependent on the lattice structure are affected by plastic deformation or cold working. Tensile
strength, yield strength and hardness are increased while ductility is decreased. Distortion of the lattice structure the
passage of electrons and decrease electrical conductivity.

The increase in internal energy, particularly in grain boundaries, makes the material more susceptible or
prone to inter granular corrosion thereby reducing its corrosion resistance. It is known as stress corrosion. One of the
ways to avoid stress corrosion cracking is to relieve the internal stresses by a suitable heat treatment.

ANNEALING:

As a result of cold working, the hardness, tensile strength and electrical resistance has increased while the
ductility has decreased. There is also a large increase in the number of dislocations. Full annealing is the process by
which the distorted cold worked lattice structure is changed back to one which is strain free through the application
of heat. The process is carried out entirely in the solid state and is divided into 3 stages namely:

a) Recovery b) Recrystallization c) Grain growth

RECOVERY

This is primarily a low temperature process and the property changes produced does not appreciably affect
the microstructure. The main aim is the relief of internal stresses due to cold working to prevent stress corrosion
cracking or to minimize the distortion produced by residual stresses. Commercially it is known by the name of stress
relief annealing. The increase in temperature allows the distortions to displace over the grain boundaries.
RECRYSTALLISATION

As the upper temperature of the recovery is reached, minute new crystals appear in the microstructure. This
new crystals have the same composition and lattice structure as the original undeformed grains. This cluster of atoms
from which new grains are formed is known as nucleus. Recrystallization takes place by a combination of nucleation
of strain free grains and the growth of these nuclei to absorb the entire material.

Figure shows a typical recrystallization curve. This is plot of percentage of material recrystallized versus the time of
annealing at constant temperature and degree of cold working. Incubation period is to allow the strain free nuclei to
reach a critical size. Now any other nuclei which cannot reach the critical size will wait for additional energy to attract
more atoms to their lattice structure and thus reaching the critical size. Now once the critical size is reached, the lattice
structure will attract more lattice structures and thus recrystallization will occur.

GRAIN GROWTH

Large grain have lower energy than small grains because larger grains means less grain boundaries and hence less
energy. That means the lowest energy state for a metal would be a single grain crystal. This is the driving force for
grain growth. And rigidity of the material is the opposing factor. After recrystallization, the grain boundaries will be
reduced and hence the internal energy will decrease.

FRACTURE

Simple fracture is the separation of a body into two or more pieces in response to an imposed stress that is static (i.e.,
constant or slowly changing with time) and at temperatures that are low relative to the melting temperature of the
material. The applied stress may be tensile, compressive, shear, or torsional. For engineering materials, two fracture
modes are possible: ductile and brittle. Classification is based on the ability of a material to experience plastic
deformation. Ductile materials typically exhibit substantial plastic deformation with high energy absorption before
fracture. On the other hand, there is normally little or no plastic deformation with low energy absorption accompanying
a brittle fracture.
Any fracture process involves two steps a) crack formation and b) propagation, in response to an imposed stress. The
mode of fracture is highly dependent on the mechanism of crack propagation. Ductile fracture is characterized by
extensive plastic deformation. Furthermore, the process proceeds relatively slowly as the crack length is extended.
Such a crack is often said to be stable. That is, it resists any further extension unless there is an increase in the applied
stress. On the other hand, for brittle fracture, cracks may spread extremely rapidly, with very little accompanying
plastic deformation. Such cracks may be said to be unstable, and crack propagation, once started, will continue
spontaneously without an increase in magnitude of the applied stress.
Ductile fracture is almost always preferred for two reasons. First, brittle fracture occurs suddenly and
catastrophically without any warning; this is a consequence of the spontaneous and rapid crack propagation. On the
other hand, for ductile fracture, the presence of plastic deformation gives warning that fracture is imminent, allowing
preventive measures to be taken. Second, more strain energy is required to induce ductile fracture in as much as ductile
materials are generally tougher.

DUCTILE FRACTURE
Ductile fracture surfaces will have their own distinctive features on both macroscopic and microscopic levels.
Figure 1 shows schematic representations for two characteristic macroscopic fracture profiles.

Figure 1: (a) Highly ductile fracture in which the specimen necks down to a
point. (b) Moderately ductile fracture after some necking. (c) Brittle fracture
without any plastic deformation.

Figure 2: Stages in the cup-and-cone fracture. (a) Initial necking. (b) Small
cavity formation. (c) Coalescence of cavities to form a crack. (d) Crack
propagation. (e) Final shear fracture at 45o angle relative to the tensile direction.

The fracture process normally occurs in several stages (Figure 2).

1. After necking begins, small cavities form in the interior of the cross section, as indicated in Figure 2(b).
 2. Next, as deformation continues, these cavities enlarge, come together, and coalesce to form an elliptical
crack, which has its long axis perpendicular to the stress direction.
3. The crack continues to grow in a direction parallel to its major axis by this cavities coalescence process (Fig.
2c).
4. Finally, fracture ensues by the rapid propagation of a crack around the outer perimeter of the neck (Fig. 2d),
by shear deformation at an angle of 45o about with the tensile axis—this is the angle at which the shear stress
is a maximum. Sometimes a fracture having this characteristic surface contour is termed a cup-and-cone
fracture because one of the mating surfaces is in the form of a cup, the other like a cone.

BRITLLE FRACTURE
Brittle fracture takes place without any appreciable deformation, and by rapid crack propagation. The
direction of crack motion is very nearly perpendicular to the direction of the applied tensile stress and yields a
relatively flat fracture surface. Fracture surfaces of materials that failed in a brittle manner will have their own
distinctive patterns; any signs of gross plastic deformation will be absent. For example, in some steel pieces, a series
of V-shaped “chevron” markings may form near the center of the fracture cross section that point back toward the
crack initiation site.

Figure 3: Photograph of a brittle fracture surface showing radial fan-shaped ridges. Arrow indicates origin of crack.

GRIFFITH’S CRITERIA
Griffith's work was motivated by two contradictory facts:
1. The stress needed to fracture bulk glass is around 100 MPa
2. The theoretical stress needed for breaking atomic bonds is approximately 10,000 MPa

This discrepancy is explained by the presence of very small, microscopic flaws or cracks that always exist under
normal conditions at the surface and within the interior of a body of material. Applied stress may be amplified or
concentrated at the tip of these cracks.
If it is assumed that a crack is similar to an elliptical hole through a plate, and is oriented perpendicular to the applied
stress, the maximum stress σm occurs at the crack tip and may be approximated by

Where

σ0 = the magnitude of the nominal applied tensile stress

ρt = The radius of curvature of the crack tip, and
a = the length of a surface crack, or half of the length of an internal crack