FRACTURE

 Brittle Fracture
 Ductile to Brittle transition

Fracture Mechanics
T.L. Anderson
CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA (1995)
 Continuity of the structure

Welding instead of riveting Residual stress

Breaking Microcracks
of Cold waters
Liberty Ships
High sulphur in steel
 Ductile

Fracture

Brittle

Temperature

Factors affecting fracture Strain rate

State of stress
 Behaviour described Terms Used

Crystallographic mode Shear Cleavage

Appearance of Fracture surface Fibrous Granular / bright

Strain to fracture Ductile Brittle

Path Transgranular Intergranular

 Tension

Torsion

Fatigue

Conditions of fracture
Creep

Low temperature Brittle fracture

Temper embrittlement

Hydrogen embrittlement
 Types of failure

Low Temperature

Promoted by High Strain rate

Triaxial state of State of stress

 Brittle fracture
 Little or no deformation
 Observed in single crystals and polycrystals
 Have been observed in BCC and HCP metals but not in FCC metals
 Slip plane

 Shear fracture of ductile single crystals

 Not observed in polycrystals
 Completely ductile fracture of polycrystals → rupture
 Very ductile metals like gold and lead behave like this
 Ductile fracture of usual polycrystals
 Cup and cone fracture
 Necking leads to triaxial state of stress
 Cracks nucleate at brittle particles (void formation at the matrix-particle
interface)
 Theoretical shear strength and cracks

 The theoretical shear strength (to break bonds and cause fracture)
of perfect crystals ~ (E / 6)
 Strength of real materials ~ (E / 100 to E /1000)
 Tiny cracks are responsible for this
 Cracks play the same role in fracture (of weakening)
as dislocations play for deformation
Applied Force (F) →

Cohesive force E
σ cohesive ≈
π
a0 r →
 Characterization of Cracks

2a
= a

 Surface or interior
 Crack length
 Crack orientation with respect to geometry and loading
 Crack tip radius
 Crack growth and failure

 Brittle fracture

Griffith
 Global
Energy based  ~Thermodynamic

Crack growth criteria

 Local
Stress based  ~Kinetic
Inglis
 It should be energetically favorable

For growth of crack

Sufficient stress concentration should

exist at crack tip to break bonds
 Brittle fracture →
► cracks are sharp & no crack tip blunting
► No energy spent in plastic deformation at the crack tip
Griffith’s criterion for brittle crack propagation
Increase in surface energy = 4 γ c
 When crack grows
σ 2
Reduction in elastic energy = π c 2
E
σ 2
Change in energy = ∆U = 4 γ c − π c 2
E
d∆U
=0
dc
∆U = 0
∆U →

c* c0
c * → critical crack size

c →
 ss
tre
gs
e a sin
r
Inc
∆U → c1* c 2* c0

c →
Griffith
2γ E 2γ E
c =
*
By some abracadabra σf =
πσ2 π c*

At constant stress At constant c (= c* → crack length)

when c > c* by instantaneous when σ exceeds σ f then specimen
nucleation then specimen fails fails
 2γ E
c =
*

πσ2
To derive c* we differentiated w.r.t
c keeping σ constant
c →
Fracture

* stable
c
σ 0
σ 0 σ →

 If a crack of length c* nucleates “instantaneously” then it can grow with

decreasing energy → sees a energy downhill
 On increasing stress the critical crack size decreases
Stress criterion for crack propagation

 Cracks have a sharp tip and lead to stress concentration

σ 0  σ 0 → applied stress
 c
σ max = σ 0 1 + 2  σ → stress at crack tip
ρ
max
   ρ → crack tip radius

For a circular hole

c  c
σ max ≈ 2σ 0 σ max = σ 0 1 + 2 
ρ  c

σ max = 3σ 0

ρ =c
 E
σ cohesive ≈
π
Work done by crack tip stresses to create a crack (/grow an existing crack)
= Energy of surfaces formed

After lot of approximations

Inglis

Eγ ρ
σf =  a0 → Interatomic spacing
4a 0 c
Griffith versus Inglis

Griffith Inglis

σf =
2γ E Eγ ρ
σf =
π c* 4a 0 c

8a0
If ρ = Griffith' s and Inglis criterion give the same result
π

If ρ ≈ 3a 0 Griffith's and Inglis criterion give the same result

→ the 'Dieter' cross-over criterion

2γ E  Eγ 
c =
*
c =
* ρ
π σ2f 4a σ2 
 0 f 
Rajesh Prasad’s Diagrams Validity domains for brittle fracture criteria

Validity Blunt ρ =c
c → Validity cracks
region region
for for
Energy Stress
criterion criterion
Griffith Inglis

Sharp
cracks

ρ >c

a0 3a0 ρ →
Sharpest possible crack Approximate border for changeover of criterion
 Safety regions applying Griffith’s criterion alone
c →

Unsafe

2γ E
c =
*
c* π σ2f
Safe

a0 ρ →
c → Safety regions applying Inglis’s criterion alone

Safe  Eγ 
Unsafe c =
* ρ
4a σ2 
 0 f 

a0 ρ →
 Griffith unsafe
Inglis unsafe Griffith
c → ⇒ unsafe unsafe
Inglis safe
⇒ safe

c*
Griffith safe
Inglis
unsafe
Griffith safe ⇒ unsafe
Inglis Griffith safe
unsafe Inglis safe
⇒ safe ⇒ safe

a0 3a0 ρ →
Ductile – brittle transition

 Deformation should be continuous across grain boundary in polycrystals

for their ductile behaviour ► 5 independent slip systems required
(absent in HCP and ionic materials)
 FCC crystals remain ductile upto 0 K
 Common BCC metals become brittle at low temperatures or at v.high
strain rates

 Ductile ⇒ σ y < σ f  yields before fracture

 Brittle ⇒σ y > σ f  fractures before yielding
 Griffith
σ y
2γ E
σf =
π c*

Inglis
σ f,σ y→

σ Eγ ρ
f
σf =
4a 0 c

Brittle Ductile

T →

DBTT

Brittle ⇒ fractures before yield Ductile ⇒ yields before fracture

σ f,σ y→

σ f

σ y (BCC)

σ y (FCC)
T →

DBTT
No DBTT
Griffith versus Hall-Petch
Griffith Hall-Petch
2γ E k
σf = σ y =σi +
π c* d

2γ E 1 k'
σf = =
π c *
c*
 Grain size dependence of DBTT

T2 > T1
T1 σ f
T2

T1
σ y
σ f,σ y→

T2

Large size Finer size

d-½ →
DBT

Finer grain size has higher DBTT ⇒ better

Grain size dependence of DBTT- simplified version - σ f ≠ f(T)

T2 > T1
T1 σ f

T1
σ y
σ f,σ y→

T2

Finer size

d-½ →
DBT

Finer grain size has lower DBTT ⇒ better

Protection against brittle fracture

 ↓γ ⇒ σ f ↓  done by chemical adsorbtion of molecules 2γ E

on the crack surfaces σf =
π c*
 Removal of surface cracks  etching of glass
(followed by resin cover)
 Introducing compressive stresses on the surface
 Surface of molten glass solidified by cold air followed by
solidification of the bulk (tempered glass)
→ fracture strength can be increased 2-3 times
 Ion exchange method → smaller cations like Na+ in sodium
silicate glass are replaced by larger cations like K+ on the
surface of glass → higher compressive stresses than tempering
 Shot peening
 Carburizing and Nitriding
 Pre-stressed concrete
 Cracks developed during grinding of ceramics extend upto one grain
 use fine grained ceramics (grain size ~ 0.1 µ m)
 Avoid brittle continuous phase along the grain boundaries
→ path for intergranular fracture (e.g. iron sulphide film along
grain boundaries in steels → Mn added to steel to form spherical
manganese sulphide)
 Ductile fracture

 Ductile fracture →
► Crack tip blunting by plastic deformation at tip
► Energy spent in plastic deformation at the crack tip

σ y
σ y
Schematic

σ →
σ →

r → r →
Sharp crack Blunted crack

r → distance from the crack tip

Orowan’s modification to the Griffith’s equation to include “plastic energy”

σ 2
Change in energy = ∆U = 4 ( γ s + γ p ) c − π c 2
E

2 (γ s + γ p ) E γ s ~ (1 − 2) J/m 2
σf =
π c* γ p ~ (10 2 − 10 3 ) J/m 2

2γ p E
σf ≈
π c*