3/5/2019 Fracture of Engineering Materials

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Fracture Failure of Engineering
Materials
Copyright © 1998-2005 by Pichai Rusmee

Objective Objectives
Lecture
Lab work This laboratory will explore the concept of fracture mechanics. Since the
Data Reduction student will, by this time, be exposed to only one or two lectures on
Handout fracture mechanics, the emphasis of this laboratory will be more on the
Miscellaneous application of fracture analysis as well as reinforcing certain ideas
pertaining to fracture mechanics. The student will determine the critical
stress intensity factor, KIc, for an engineering material in the laboratory.
Once they determine the necessary value, they will use it to analyze
machine parts. Thickness effect on the stress intensity factor will be
demonstrated in the lab.

Objective Lecture
Lecture
Lab work Concept of grain and crack
Data Reduction The concept of crack can be thought of in many ways. A material scientist
Handout or A metallurgist may look at cracks on a molecular level. An engineer will
Miscellaneous probably look at the applied mechanics or macro aspect of cracks.

On an atomic level, metals consist of crystal structure of various types such

as Face Center Cubic, Body Center Cubic, or Hexagonal Close Pack. In
each of the crystal structures, there are identifiable planes in which the
individual atoms can slide pass each other relatively easily under some
applied forces. Such action would be observed as yielding phenomenon.
Instead of sliding pass each other, the atoms can also cleave apart. The void
formed by this action is crack. On molecular level, a crack is a collection of
dislocations splitting the material apart.

Figure 4.1 Crack formation in a single crystal lattice.

In real material, there will be more than one clump of material that share
the same crystal orientation. This form the concept of grains. A grain is a
collection of atoms that have the same crystallographic structure and
orientation. Each grain will have its own cleavage plane where the crack
prefers to propagate. As the crack crosses the boundary between two grains
it must turn or change direction to align itself with the cleavage plane of the
new grain. It follows that, the more turn the crack has to make the more
energy it will take to make the crack propagates. Therefore, the material
with small grain or material with crack propagating transverse to the grain
will be able to absorb more loading energy before the crack start to
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propagate.

Figure 4.2 Crack propagation across grain boundaries.

Figure 4.3 Correlation of fracture stress with the grain size.

Applied mechanics
Applied mechanics would be less concern with the metallographic structure
but will concentrate on the stress state in front of the crack tip or looking at
crack growth in term of macro mechanics. From theory of elasticity, the
stress in front of the crack tip in any direction is a function of the stress
intensity factor, the distance from the crack tip, and the direction, θ:

This theory predicts that the stresses in front of the crack tip will be higher
than the applied stress (as r approaches zero). In fact, σx and σzwould tend
to infinity (Figure 4.4a). But in reality, the material can only be stress up to
a finite value. Therefore, the infinite stress state is impossible since the
material will yield or plastically deformed well before then. A yield zone
will be directly in front of the crack tip could be estimated if a yield
criterion is assumed. For mode I crack using the maximum shear stress
criterion, the radius of the plastic or the yield zone is:

One result that arises from this analysis is that the maximum stress,σo,
equals to σy - σx > σYS (Figure 4.4b). The stress in the y-direction is the
apparent yield stress that is three times higher than the normal yield stress
of the material. In term of the study of fracture mechanics, this is a
beneficial stress state. As with notch, the presence of crack induces a
triaxial stress state in front of the crack tip. Since this stress state raises the
apparent yield stress of the material to be higher than the actual yield stress,
the material will not shear as easily thus reducing the affect of shear failure.

Figure 4.4 Stress state in front of a crack tip a) according to theory of

elasticity, b) with plastic zone.

Mode of fracture
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There are three basic mode of fractures called Mode I, II, and III. They are
fracture by pulling, pushing, and tearing respectively. Figure 4.5
demonstrate the three mode of fractures. Symbol a or c is usually used for
crack length in case of an edge crack. For inside crack, a or c is half the
total crack length.

FIG 4.5
Figure 4.5 Three mode of fractures.

Plane strain/plane stress

As in the composites lab, the stress or strain state is always in three
dimension. But in most cases, they can be simplified to either plane strain
or plane stress by ignoring either the out of plane strain or plane stress.

The fracture toughness experiment must be set up so that the plane strain
condition is satisfied. This is because the plane strain will result in a lower
maximum possible shear stress in the case of positive stresses. To illustrate
one of the reason why this is the case, draw two sets of 3-D Mohr's circles.
The plane stress condition will results in a higher out of plane shear stress
than the plane strain condition for a given maximum stress. Again, the
shear stress would promote yielding not fracture.

FIG 4.6
Figure 4.6 3-D Mohr's circles for plane stress and plane strain conditions.

The decisions to do a plane stress or plane strain analysis is subjective.

Usually, a "thin" part is analyze as plane stress while a "thick" part as plane
strain. However, ASTM E399 give a more specific condition in which a
fracture toughness specimen will have an acceptable plane strain state. In
order to have a valid test, the thickness of the specimen must be at least:

Grain directionality

Stress intensity factor

Geometric correction factor

Test results
This may be one standard that valid results could be impossible to obtain,
i.e., satisfy all the conditions set forth in the ASTM E399. The thinner the
specimen (up to certain thickness) will produce a higher KI value that the
thicker specimen because the specimen would be in plane stress state. If we
plot the KI's versus specimen thickness, KIc is the asymptote of the curve as
the specimen gets thicker. The specimen in plane stress may show a telltale
sign of its stress condition by exhibiting shear lips. Shear lips are ledges on
the side of the specimen that make a 45° to the plane of fracture. Figure 4.7
shows the curve of KI versus specimen thickness and the extend of shear
lips on the specimens of various thicknesses.

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Figure 4.7 Stress intensity as a function of specimen thickness and the

relative extend of the shear lips.

Using the result

For a given geometry and load condition, we calculate the KI for that case.
If KI exceeds the previously known value of KIc than it is said that the
crack will propagate. In the case where the sample in question is clearly in
the state of plane stress, the KIc can still be used as long as it is understood
that the result will probably be conservative.

We can attempt to combined the K's for different mode by using the weight
average or various weighted sum methods. Two methods are commonly
suggested.

(Doesn't work very well)

or if mode I fracture dominates the other mode:

(Doesn't work at all)

Caution: Just because a crack is presence doesn't mean that a sample will
fail in fracture. It also doesn't mean that the other mode of failure will occur
in the vicinity of the crack.

Objective Lab Work

Lecture sss
Lab work
Data Reduction
Handout
Miscellaneous

Objective Data Reduction

Lecture sss
Lab work
Data Reduction
Handout
Miscellaneous

Objective Handout
Lecture
Lab work Elementary strength of material texts usually assume that all materials are
Data Reduction in continuous bulk, i.e., homogeneous without discontinuities, flaws, or
Handout imperfections. In reality, the opposite is often true. Fracture mechanics is a
Miscellaneous study of bodies containing such discontinuities or "defects."

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An applied stress can be thought of as energy input to a body. This energy

approach to fracture mechanics was proposed by Griffith using the first law
of thermodynamic. A body under an applied stress is capable of absorbing
some energy through elastic deformation. The excess energy that can not be
absorbed must be released by some other means. If the loading condition
does not preclude the shear stresses some of the energy can be released
through yielding. Another way to release the energy is by creating new
surfaces, i.e., crack growth. In this case, the controlling failure mode may
be either yielding or fracture depending on the initial crack presence, load
condition, etc.

One of the approaches in fracture mechanics is to keep track of energy

release rates, G. It is assumed that a crack will propagate only when a
certain energy level is reached. An alternative to the energy release rate
approach is the stress intensity approach. The stress intensity factor, K,
defines the magnitude of stresses in the vicinity of the crack tip. When a
critical stress intensity, Kc, is reached, the crack propagation occurs. For
linearly elastic materials, the energy release rates and the stress intensity
factor are simply related:

(1)

The general form of a stress intensity factor is given by:

(2)

where σ = applied stress

a = crack length
f(α) = correction factor which varies with specimen geometry and crack
geometry

Many handbooks contain f(α) values for various types of specimens and
crack geometries.

In this laboratory, you are a design engineer in charge of evaluating the

design limit of certain structural components. It is your responsibility to
determine the maximum loads the parts (samples) can withstand without
causing unacceptable failure as well as identifying the failure mode. Using
ASTM E399 as a guide, you will carry out a plane strain fracture toughness
experiment in order to obtain the necessary information for your
investigation.

There are two structural components in question, Part A and Part B. Figure
1 shows a schematic drawing of Part A. It has been modeled as a simply
supported beam with a load in the middle. The beam has a through the
thickness edge crack underneath the load on the tension side. The following
information is known about Part A:

The depth, d, is 0.1100 meters, the thickness, b, is 0.0254 meters and

the length, L, is 1.0 meters.
The crack length, a, is 0.0007 m. in length.
For the case of an edge-cracked plate loaded in tension,[1]

(3)

In our case, assume that a«W

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Figure 1 A machine component modeledas a simply support beam with a

through the thickness edge crack.

The schematic of Part B is shown in Figure 2. It has similar dimension as

part A but has been modeled as a cantilever beam. The through thickness
edge crack for this part is 0.00021 m. in length on the tension side.

Figure 2 A machine component modeled as a cantilever beam with a

through the thickness edge crack.

The tasks listed below outline the necessary steps to carry out the plane
strain fracture toughness test using the compact tension (CT) specimens
similar to that shown in Figure 3. It also points out factors effecting your
experimental result that must be addressed in your report.

Task

1. Load a precracked compact tension (CT) specimen to failure

according the ASTM E399. Generate a plot of load versus crack
opening displacement (COD).
2. Calculate the initial slope of the plot you just generated using a linear
least-squares curve fit forcing the curve fitted line to go through zero
(i.e., in the form y = bx rather than y = a + bx). Do not forget to
account for the start up or toe region of your plot. See the Appendix
at the end of this section for additional help and information on
curvefitting.
3. On the same plot, draw a line through the origin at 95% of the slope
you calculated in Task 2. The load at which this line intersects the
curve is designated PQ unless there is a peak on the load-COD curve
preceding the point of intersection. In this case, PQ is taken to be the
load at the preceding peak.
4. Calculate the first conditional result, KQ. For the CT specimen using:

(3)

Where α=a/W
5. Is the KQ you calculated a valid KIc value? Check to see if all the
criteria listed in the Appendix are satisfied. Include the summary of
your finding in the result section.
6. Define plane strain and plane stress.
7. A stress element has a principal stress state where σx > σz ≤ 0 and σy
= 1/2 σx Taking σz to be zero, draw Mohr's circles using σx, σy, and
σz. These 3-D Mohr's circles show the principal stresses in a plane
stress condition when τ's equal to zero. Make note of the maximum
possible shear stress if we deviate from the principal stresses
directions, i.e., rotate the stress element 45°

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Figure 3 Definition of symbols used for dimensions of CT

Specimen.

8. A stress element has a principal stress state where σx is as before but

σy = 1/3 σx and σz = 1/2 σx. Draw another set of Mohr's circles using
σx, σy, and σz. These Mohr's circles show the principal stresses in a
plane strain condition when τ's equal to zero. Make note of the
maximum possible shear stress if we deviate from the principal
stresses directions, i.e., rotate the stress element 45°.
9. Judging from the maximum possible shear stresses from Task 7 and
8, which condition, plane stress or plane strain, would promote
yielding and not fracture? Can you explain why we perform a plane
strain fracture toughness test and not plane stress fracture
toughness?
10. Will you be able to apply the test result to your machine component
if they are in plane stress condition? Justify why or why not?

Reference
[1] Gross, B., Srawley, J.E., Stress Intensity Factors for a Single Notch
Tension Specimen by Boundary Collocation of a Stress Function, NASA
TN D-2395, 1964.

Appendix

TASK 2 (Least-Squares Approximation Technique)

Many times in engineering, it is necessary to approximate experimental
data with some form of a curve fit. A method that lends itself nicely to
linear elastic experimental data is the linear least-squares method of
approximation. The method is simple to apply and gives useful results. We
will first derive the necessary equations. (You will have to do a similar
derivation for the equation y = bx for this task rather than y =a +bx.)

The idea behind the linear least-squares approximation technique is to

assume a straight line in the form

(4)

Next we sum the squares of the differences between this line and the
experimental data for all the data points (m data points)

(5)

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The best line is achieved when the sum of the squareddifferences is as

small as possible. Therefore we need to minimize φ by taking derivatives
with respect to a and b and set them equal to zero.

(6)

(7)

We can rewrite (6) and (7) in the form:

(8)

(9)

We now have two equations and two unknowns. One easy way to solve for
a and b is using Kramer's rule. We can rewrite (8) and (9) in matrix form

(10)

Making the substitutions

(11)

Where A, B, C, and D are as shown in (10). Then, a and b are

(12)
(13)

and remembering that

(4)

We now have our approximation.

There are several ways available to solve for a and b. You can solve them
by using brute force, spread sheet, or computer program. Although beyond
the scope of this laboratory, this method can also be applied to obtain
approximations other than linear equations. For example, to find an
approximation of the form:

(14)

This time you would need to take three derivatives instead of two and solve
three equations for a, b, and c. You can also easily apply this method to
exponential equations, logarithmic equations, sine equations, cosine
equations, etc.
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TASK 4 (Summary of ASTM E-399 Validity Criteria)

{Metric Equivalents Shown in [ ] } A- Precracking

1. a > 2.5 ( KQ / σYS)^2 9.1.3

2. 0.45 W ≤ a ≤ 0.55 W 7.3.2.1
3. |a4 - anotch| > 0.025 W 7.3.2.2
|a4 - anotch| > 0.050 in [1.3 mm]
|a5 - anotch| > 0.025 W
|a5 - anotch| > 0.050 in [1.3 mm]
4. Plane of precrack to be parallel with X and Z axes within ± 10°
8.2.4
5. -1 ≤ R ≤ 0.1 A2.1.2
where, R = Lower Load / Upper Load from data sheet.
6. During last 2.5% of crack length a: A2.3.3

where Kmax is based on "Upper Load" from data sheet.

B- Loading rate

1. 8.3

C- Test data

1. Pmax / PQ < 1.10 9.1.2

2. B > 2.5 ( KQ / σYS)^2 9.1.3

D- Fatigue precrack geometry |a1- a2| < 0.1 a 8.2.2

|a2 - a3| < 0.1 a
|a3 - a1| < 0.1 a
|a4 - a5| < 0.1 a
|a4 - a| < 0.15 a
|a5 - a| < 0.15 a

where,

|a1 - anotch| > 0.025 a and |a1 - anotch| > 0.050 in. [1.3 mm]
|a2 - anotch| > 0.025 a and |a2 - anotch| > 0.050 in. [1.3 mm]
|a3 - anotch| > 0.025 a and |a3 - anotch| > 0.050 in. [1.3 mm]

[Note: use the value of a as defined here to calculate KQ]

Figure 4 Schematic of crack dimensions for CT specimen.

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Objective Miscellaneous
Lecture
Lab work Watch out for units especially the one inside the square root.
Data Reduction
Handout Unlike other previous laboratory exercises in this course, the emphasis of
Miscellaneous this laboratory will be different. This lab will be structured as an analytical
assignment where the students are given certain machine part to be
analyzes instead of the students reporting on the experimental results. The
experiment part of the lab will be presented as one of the necessary step
that the students need to perform in order to carry out their assignment. The
same emphasis will continue to the Fatigue Crack Growth and the Pressure
Vessel labs.

Last Modified
Sep 2005

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