Strengthening and Failure of

Materials
 Structure of Materials
Solid

Crystalline Amorphous

Ionic Molecular Atomic

Network Group 18 Metals

 Structure of Materials
• Unit Cells – used in describing the structure of crystalline
materials
Structure of Materials
Structure of Materials
Structure of Materials
 Structure of Materials

Unit Cell Coordination # of atoms per Packing efficiency

Number unit cell
Simple Unit Cell 6 1 52%
Body-centered unit
cell (BCC) 8 2 68%
Face-centered unit cell
(FCC) 12 4 74.04%
Hexagonal Closed
Packed (HCP) 12 6 74.04%
 Structure of Materials

• Plastic Deformations
– Net movement of large number of atoms in
response to an applied stress
– Massive amount of dislocations
– Causes of “slips”
 Structure of Materials
• Dislocations
– Defects contained in crystalline materials (mostly
metals and alloys) that are results of solidification,
plastic deformation and as a consequence of
thermal stress that results from rapid cooling
– Edge, screw and mixed dislocation

Dislocation density – number of dislocation in

materials expressed as total dislocation length per
unit volume
 Structure of Materials
• Edge Dislocation
 Structure of Materials
• Edge Dislocation
 Structure of Materials
• Screw Dislocation
 Structure of Materials
• Screw and Edge Dislocation
 Strengthening

• Mechanisms of Strengthening
a. Strengthening by grain size reduction
b. Solid-solution alloying
c. Strain hardening
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
• Percent cold work (%CW)

𝐴𝑜 − 𝐴𝑑
%𝐶𝑊 = 𝑥100%
𝐴𝑜
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
• From true stress-strain curve
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
• From true stress-strain curve
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
 Strengthening
• Strain hardening
Example:
Compute the tensile strength and ductility (%EL) of a
cylindrical copper rod if it is cold worked such that the
diameter is reduced from 15.2mm to 12.2mm.
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
• Different cold working operations
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
• Different cold working operations
• Cold rolling
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
• Different cold working operations
• Cold forging
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
• Different cold working operations
• Extrusion
 Strengthening

• Strain hardening
• Different cold working operations
• Stamping
 Strengthening

• Grain size reduction

– Average grain size mechanical properties
– Mainly affects how dislocations “pile up” or are
“impeded”
 Strengthening

• Grain size reduction

– Grain boundary
• Acts as a barrier for two reasons
1. Grains having different orientations (angular) changes its
direction of motion and crystallographic misorientation
increases
2. Result in discontinuity of slip planes from one grain to the
other
 Strengthening

• Grain size reduction

– Hall-Petch relationship
 Strengthening

• Grain size reduction

– Hall-Petch relationship
 Strengthening

• Grain size reduction

– It can be regulated by the following:
• Rate of solidification from liquid phase
• Plastic deformation followed by appropriate heat
treatment
• *Plastic deformation (compression)
*applicable only for some materials
 Strengthening

• Solid-solution strengthening (alloying)

– Alloying with impurity atoms that either substitute
or interstice solid solution
– Increasing the concentration of impurity to
improve a “base” material’s strength
 Strengthening

• Solid-solution strengthening
– Introducing nickel to copper as an impurity
 Strengthening

• Solid-solution strengthening
– Introducing nickel to copper as an impurity
 Strengthening

• Solid-solution strengthening
– Introducing different alloying elements to steels
(ferrous metals)
• Carbon
• Sulfur
• Phosphorus
• Silicon
• Manganese
• Chromium
• Molybdenum
• Nickel
• Vanadium
• Alumium
Failure of Materials
 Fundamentals of Failure

• Fracture
 Fundamentals of Failure

• Ductile Fracture
– Most common type of tensile fracture
– Shear deformation at an angle of 45°
 Fundamentals of Failure

• Ductile Fracture
 Fundamentals of Failure

• Ductile Fracture
 Fundamentals of Failure

• Ductile Fracture
– Fractographic studies (SEM)
 Fundamentals of Failure

• Brittle Fracture
– Takes place without significant deformation
– Rapid crack propagation
– Crack propagation corresponds to successive and
repeated breaking of atomic bonds
– Perpendicular to the direction of the applied
tensile stress
 Fundamentals of Failure

• Brittle Fracture
– V-shaped “chevron” markings
 Fundamentals of Failure

• Brittle Fracture
– Radial fan-shaped ridges (origin of crack)
 Fundamentals of Failure

• Brittle Fracture
– Very hard and fine-grained metals will have no
discernible fracture pattern
– Amorphous materials yield shiny and smooth
surface
 Fundamentals of Failure

• Brittle Fracture
– Transgranular fracture
 Fundamentals of Failure

• Brittle Fracture
– Intergranular fracture
 Fracture Mechanics

• Quantifies relationships between:

– Material properties
– Stress level
– Presence of crack-producing flaws
– Crack propagation mechanisms
 Fracture Mechanics

• Stress concentration
– “stress raiser”
– Presence of microscopic flaws- cracks that always
exist under normal conditions at the surface
and/or within the interior of a body of material
– Any discontinuity or change of section, scratches,
holes, notches, bends, tool markings or grooves
(or any equivalent to a sudden change of section)
 Fracture Mechanics

• Stress concentration
 Fracture Mechanics

• Stress concentration

𝑎 1
𝜎𝑚 = 2𝜎𝑜 ( )2
𝜌𝑡
– 𝜎𝑚 - maximum stress
– 𝜎𝑜 - nominal stress = F/Ao
– a - length of surface crack/half length of internal
crack
– 𝜌�𝑡 – radius of curvature at crack tip
𝑎 1
– ( )2 - crack tip-curvature factor
𝜌𝑡
 Fracture Mechanics

• Stress concentration factor, 𝐾𝑡

𝑎 1 𝜎𝑚
𝐾𝑡 = 2( )2 =
𝜌𝑡 𝜎𝑜
 Fracture Mechanics

• Critical stress for crack propagation, 𝜎𝑐

– Example: Maximum flaw length computation
A relatively large plate of a glass is subjected to a
tensile stress of 40MPa. If the specific surface
energy and modulus of elasticity for this glass are
0.3 J/m2 and 69GPa, respectively, determine the
maximum length of a surface flaw that is possible
without fracture.
 Fracture Mechanics

• Fracture toughness, 𝐾𝑐
– Ability of a material containing flaw to resist
fracture
 Fracture Mechanics

• Fracture toughness, 𝐾𝑐

𝐾𝑐 = 𝑌𝜎𝑐 𝜋𝑎
Y – crack-specimen geometry constant
𝜎𝑐 - critical stress for crack propagation
a – crack length
 Fracture Mechanics

• Fracture toughness
 Fracture Mechanics

• Fracture toughness, 𝐾𝑐
 Fracture Mechanics

• Plane strain Fracture toughness, 𝐾𝐼𝑐

𝐾𝐼𝑐 = 𝑌𝜎𝑐 𝜋𝑎
Y – crack-specimen geometry constant
𝜎𝑐 - critical stress for crack propagation
a – crack length
 Fracture Mechanics

• Plane strain Fracture toughness, 𝐾𝐼𝑐

 Fracture Mechanics
• Plane strain Fracture toughness
 Fracture Mechanics
• Design using Fracture Mechanics
– (Plane strain) fracture toughness, KIC
• Material selection
– Allowable flaw size, a
• Quality of the product/component
• (available)Flaw detection techniques
– Design or critical stress, 𝜎(𝑐)
• Depending on the application (applied load)
 Fracture Mechanics
• Design using Fracture Mechanics
Flaw detection techniques
 Fracture Mechanics
• Design using Fracture Mechanics
– Example: Material selection for a pressurized tank
-Design a tank in such a way that failure of the material
will not occur due to pressure inside the tank
 Fracture Mechanics
• Design using Fracture Mechanics
– Example: Material selection for a pressurized tank
 Failure modes
• Fatigue
– Form of failure that occurs in structures subjected
to dynamic and fluctuating stresses
– Possible for failure to occur at stresses lower than
tensile or yield strength for static load
– Normally occurs after a lengthy period of repeated
stress or strain cycling
– Estimated to be cause of approximately 90% of all
metallic failures
– Characterized by cyclic stress
 Failure modes
(fatigue)

• Cyclic stress
– Represented by the following
• Reversed stress cycle
• Repeated stress cycle
• Random stress inducement
 Failure modes
(fatigue)

• Cyclic stress

𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥 + 𝜎𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝜎𝑚 =
2
𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝜎𝑟 = 𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝜎𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝜎𝑟
𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒, 𝜎𝑎 =
2
𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜, 𝑅 =
𝜎𝑚𝑖𝑛
 Failure modes
(fatigue)

• Fatigue test
 Failure modes
(fatigue)

• S-N Curve
 Failure modes
(fatigue)

• S-N Curve
 Failure modes
(fatigue)

• Crack Initiation and Propagation

1. Crack initiation, wherein a small crack
forms at some point of high stress
concentration
2. Crack propagation, during which this
crack advances incrementally with each
stress cycle
3. Final failure, which occurs very rapidly
once the advancing crack has reached a
critical size
 Failure modes
(fatigue)

• Factors that affect fatigue life

1. Mean stress, 𝜎𝑚
2. Surface effects
3. Design factors
4. Surface treatments – case hardening, shot
peening
 Failure modes

• Creep