MSE 250: Structure and Properties of Materials

9. Mechanical Properties III

Instructor: Prof. Yang Jiao (yang.jiao.2@asu.edu)

Office: Engineering Research Center Rm 387
Phone: 480-965-4560

Expected Outcome
Key concepts:
Different types of failure (fracture, fatigue, creep)
Fracture toughness
Fatigue strength, fatigue life
Creep rate

Skills:
Compute fracture toughness for given loading condition
Determine fatigue strength and fatigue life from given
fatigue experimental data
Explain the mechanism for fatigue fracture
Explain different stages of creep

Failure: Brittle Fracture of Typical Ceramic

Elastic deformation occurs up to f then cracks grow and fracture
material.

Types of failure
Fracture
Fatigue
Creep

Computer simulation of fracture growth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVZ5
YS8vGhU

Fracture
Cracks weaken materials by concentrating stress at the crack tip.
Stress intensity

K1 y a
where

K1 = stress intensity
= applied stress
y= geometric factor (usually y1)
a= crack length

If K1 exceeds the materials fracture toughness, K1c, then fracture occurs.

Materials

K1 (Mpa-

m)

Steel

50 150

Aluminum

25 45

Window glass

0.1 0.8

Alternatively, the critical crack size can be defined as:

K12c
a 2 2
y
*

if the crack length is greater than the critical crack size a*, then
fracture occurs.
Defining Crack Size :

a
external crack

2a
internal crack

A steel wire with a cross-section area 2.5X10-3 m2 and a length of 10

m is used to pull a truck on the road. The truck is 10 tons and the
friction coefficient between the tires and road is 0.25N/kg. Steel has
a Youngs modulus 250MPa.

Suppose this wire contain surface cracks. Determine the largest

linear size of the surface crack so that the wire will not fail due to
fracture in this application. Kc = 0.1 MPa m-0.5

Toughness
Definition: Ability to absorb mechanical energy during plastic
deformation (note this is different from fracture toughness K 1C, but
they are related to one another).
High toughness requires a combination of strength and ductility.
Toughness can be approximated by the area under the stress-strain
curve.

Concrete

Steel

S tr e s s
( )

S tre s s
( )
-

S t r a in (

H ig h s t r e n g t h
= > lo w t o u g h n e s s
L o w d u c t ilit y

S t r a in (

H ig h s t r e n g t h
= > h ig h t o u g h n e s s
H ig h d u c t ilit y

Brittle vs. Ductile Fracture

Charpy impact test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpGhqQvftAo

Computer simulation of fatigue crack growth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Gb
hHFaTmk

Fatigue
Repeated small stresses cause slow crack growth, leading to fracture.
Fatigue lifetime depends on the magnitude of the stress and the number
of times that the stress is applied.

Initial surface crack apply stress

crack grows

apply stress again

crack grows more

fracture

Mechanisms for fatigue

Nucleation of micro-cracks due dislocation motion (strengthening the

materials to block dislocation motion)
Steady growth of micro-cracks due to local stress concentration (lower the
stress amplitudes)
Percolation of micro-cracks causing fracture (regular inspections)

Examples of Fatigue
Aloha Airlines Boeing 737: On April 28, 1988
A Boeing 737-200 flying between the Hawaiian Islands suffered a major
disaster, with its top hard ripped off in mid-flight. One flight attendant
fell to her death. Luckily, the pilots were able to land the damaged plane
without further loss of life.
(related site : http://www.aloha.net/~icarus/)

Why did this happen?

The plane was used for short airline hops between Hawaiian Islands,
resulting in a large number of compression /decompression cycles (fatigue
cycles), despite having few flight hours. When other planes were checked,
they were also about to fail but luckily the problem was caught in time.

Some materials have a fatigue limit and repeated stresses below that limit
are safe.

Other factors affect fatigue lifetime, including surface cracks, corrosion,

temperature, type of stress (tensile vs. compressive)

(1) Determine the fatigue life at stress amplitude 150 MPa. (2) Determine the
fatigue stress for 1000 cycles. What strength amplitude would you suggest for
1000 cycles, assuming 10% fluctuation in fatigue stress.

A fatigue test is carried out on a steel having an ultimate strength of 289 MPa. The number of
cycles required to break the specimen at different stresses are given below:
Stress Amplitude Fatigue Life
(MPa)
(cycles)
223
4.5 x 104
209
2.4 x 105
192
8.0 x 105
178
1.5 x 106
175
2.7 x 106
168
7.8 x 106
168
>1.0 x 107 (did not break)
165
>2.6 x 107
162
>2.2 x 107
a) Plot the data on linear-log scale, preferably with a computerized figure-plotting program.
b) Determine the average fatigue strength at 10 6 cycles (hint: use curve-fitting software to fit the
line).
c) What is the ratio of the fatigue strength at 10 6 cycles to the ultimate strength?
e) If you plan to use this material for 10 8 cycles, what is the maximum fatigue strength you would
recommend (assuming 20% fluctuations in stress amplitude).

An example of creep
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opPWc
eW-YKc

Long-term loading
Elevated temperature

Creep
Slow plastic deformation due to moderate stresses and high temperature
T H R E E ST A G E S O F C R E E P

Fe

g lid e

S t r e ss a p p l i e d

tim e

F e3C

*
I Instantaneous
strain when stress
applied; strain
increases as stress
continues

II Steady state strain fairly constant rate of strain; dislocations

simultaneously generated and annealed.
III Tertiary rapid strain followed by fracture, often associated with
necking

Expected Outcome
Key concepts:
Different types of failure (fracture, fatigue, creep)
Fracture toughness
Fatigue strength, fatigue life
Creep rate

Skills:
Compute fracture toughness for given loading condition
Determine fatigue strength and fatigue life from given
fatigue experimental data
Explain the mechanism for fatigue fracture
Explain different stages of creep