MECHANICAL PROPERTIES -

FRACTURE

What must you be able to do?

describe the different types of fracture that different materials undergo. explain how deformations occur in metals.

Cleaving a crystal

BRITTLE FRACTURE No plastic deformation occurs before fracture. The material does not stretch at all. Fracture occurs along CLEAVAGE PLANES. Fracture will occur when a stress is applied at 90o to the cleavage plane.

DUCTILE FRACTURE
A large amount of plastic deformation occurs before fracture.

Metals, which are malleable and ductile, undergo ductile fracture when they reach their limit of deformation.

CREEP A TYPE OF DEFORMATION THAT LEADS TO FAILURE

The distorted images viewed through the pane are due to variations in thickness in the pane.

Creep is the tendency of a material to deform or move permanently to relieve stress. Glass panes are thicker at the bottom than at the top due to creep. The glass has flowed downwards under its own weight in order to relieve the stress of supporting itself. A chocolate bar will deform under its own weight on a hot day.

Creep deformation can be found in any material and is dependent on temperature and time. Materials with low melting points creep at room temperature.

Creep can eventually result in failure of the material.

The filament of a light bulb is made up of very thin tungsten wire. Sagging of the coil increases with time due to creep deformation caused by the weight of the filament. Eventually adjacent coils touch each other, resulting in overheating and the filament breaks.

Failure in metals dislocations in crystals Metals that are solids have a crystal structure. This means that the atoms are arranged in a particular pattern that is repeated throughout the piece of metal.

When the metal cools and solidifies, the atoms form tiny crystals, called grains or crystallites. The grains are bonded together at boundaries called grain boundaries.

Each dot is an atom. Atoms are arranged in a regular pattern Some metals have a crystal structure while others do not and their structure is referred to as amorphous. grain
grain boundary

Vacancies occur in crystals where atoms are missing. These imperfections result in the atoms shifting when a much smaller force than usual is applied.

vacancies

Metal crystal grain

A SLIP PLANE forms resulting from the imperfections.

The slip plane is an imaginary line of weakness that divides the crystal, or part of the crystal, into two regions. Imperfections can occur in any direction throughout the crystal and so slip planes occur in all directions throughout the crystal. The addition of impurities to a metal can counteract the effects of the imperfections.

Adding carbon to iron results in a much stronger and harder crystal structure.

Iron and carbon atoms in a cast iron crystal.

Tin added to copper forms bronze. This discovery lead to the development of human civilization during the Bronze Age.

The addition of impurities these impurities counteract the effects of the imperfections.

vacancy

Added impurity

TYPES of DISLOCATION:
Edge dislocation: A layer of atoms ends abruptly. Screw dislocation: An extra layer of atoms is added to an existing layer as a flap.

Screw dislocation

The following points regarding dislocations are important: A. the metals atoms are held together by metallic bonds. The bonds surrounding the dislocations are relatively weak, so these are the first to break in plastic deformation.

B. When a crystal is under stress, the dislocations can be forced to move through the crystal, being passed on from layer to layer.
dislocation Horizontal arrows show applied stress

Dislocation moves in the crystal by breaking/making a line of metal metal bonds

C. Grain boundaries form a barrier for the movement of the dislocation when stress is applied.