ANALISIS KEGAGALAN MATERIAL

(FAILURE ANALYSIS OF ENGINEERING MATERIAL)

by: Herman Saputro

KASUS KASUS KEGAGALAN

The 1980s and 1990s were a very unsafe time for bulk carriers. Many bulkers
sank during this time, 99 were lost between 1990 and 1997. The latest case is
Selendang Ayu in Desember 2004.

Selendang Ayu suffered a catastrophic fracture in number 4 hold in December 2004.

The leading causes:

1. Stability problems
2. Structural problems

KASUS KASUS KEGAGALAN

On March 27th, 1980, the semi-submersible platform Alexander Kielland suddenly
capsized during a storm in the North Sea, because one of its five vertical columns
supporting the platform was broken off. 123 workers among the 212 people on
board were killed in the accident.

http://www.weldreality.com/navy%20weld%20problems.htm

The investigation showed that a fatigue crack had propagated

from the double fillet weld.

KASUS KASUS KEGAGALAN

Each year from 1995 to 2001, an average of 408 tankers break apart at sea or barely
escaped that fate, according to the International Association of Independent Tanker
Owners, known as Intertanko.
Intertanko. The leading cause was collision, but nearly as many
suffered unknown structural failures or technical problems.

An oil tanker that fractured in a brittle manner by crack propagation

around its girth. (Photography by Neal Boenzi. Reprinted with permission
from The New York Times.)

KASUS KASUS KEGAGALAN

Aloha Airlines On April 28, 1988, a Boeing 737-200 (line number 152)

http://lessonslearned.faa.gov/ll_main.cfm?TabID=4&LLID=20&LLTypeID=2

The investigation determined that the failure mechanism was a result of multiple site
fatigue cracking of the skin adjacent to rivet holes along the lap joint upper rivet row and tear
strap disbond which negated the fail-safe characteristics of the fuselage. Finally, the fatigue
cracking initiated from the knife edge associated with the countersunk lap joint rivet holes;
the knife edge concentrated stresses that were transferred through the rivets because of lap
joint disbanding.

KASUS KASUS KEGAGALAN

Southwest Airlines plane

The plane's nose gear collapsed as the

aircraft landed on Runway 4

ANALISIS KEGAGALAN
Why structure fail ???
The cause of most structural failures generally falls into one of the following
categories:
1. Negligence during design, construction or operation of the structure.
2. Application of a new design or material, which produces an unexpected (and
undesirable) result.

Failure in structures leads to lost of properties and sometimes lost of

human lives.

Failure analysis
Failure analysis is an engineering approach to determining how and why equipment or a
component has failed.

The goal of a failure analysis is to understand the root cause of the

failure so as to prevent similar failures in the future.

ANALISIS KEGAGALAN
Why structure fail ???
The cause of most structural failures generally falls into one of the following
categories:
1. Negligence during design, construction or operation of the structure.
2. Application of a new design or material, which produces an unexpected (and
undesirable) result.

Failure in structures leads to lost of properties and sometimes lost of

human lives.

Failure analysis
Failure analysis is an engineering approach to determining how and why equipment or a
component has failed.

The goal of a failure analysis is to understand the root cause of the

failure so as to prevent similar failures in the future.

Failure Theories
Failure under load can occur due to excessive elastic deflections or due to
excessive stresses.
Failure prediction theories due to excessive stresses fall into two classes:
1. Failure when the loading is static or the number of load cycles is one or
quite small, and
2. Failure due to cyclic loading when the number of cycles is large often in
thousands of cycles.
Failure under static load
Parts under static loading may fail due to:
a) Ductile behavior:
behavior: Failure is due to bulk yielding causing permanent
deformations that are objectionable. These failures may cause noise, loss
of accuracy, excessive vibrations, and eventual fracture. In machinery,
bulk yielding is the criteria for failure. Tiny areas of yielding are OK in
ductile behavior in static loading.
b) Brittle behavior:
behavior: Failure is due to fracture. This occurs when the
materials (or conditions) do not allow much yielding such as ceramics,
grey cast iron, or heavily cold-worked parts

Ductile vs. Brittle Failure

Ductile materials - extensive plastic deformation and energy absorption (toughness)
before fracture
Brittle materials - little plastic deformation and low energy absorption before fracture

ductile fracture in aluminum

brittle fracture in a mild steel

Adapted from Fig. 8.3, Callister 7e.

Ductile vs. Brittle Failure

Ductile fracture

Initial necking.

Small cavity
formation

Coalescence of
cavities to form a
crack

Cup-and-cone fracture in
aluminum.

Crack
propagation

Final shear
fracture.

11

Ductile vs. Brittle Failure

Ductile fracture
Microvoid Formation, Growth And Coalescence
Microvoids are easily formed at inclusions,
intermetallic or second-phase particles and
grain boundaries.
Growth and coalescence of microvoids progress
as the local applied load increases.
Random planar array
of particles acting as
void initiators

Growth of voids
to join
each other as
the applied
stress increases.

Linkage or
coalescence
of these voids to
form free fracture
surface.

Ductile vs. Brittle Failure

Ductile fracture
Ductile Fracture of Alloys

If materials is stretched, it
firstly deforms uniformly.

Inclusions stress concentrators

Ductile vs. Brittle Failure

Ductile fracture
Microvoids are from by:
1) Decohesion at particle -matrix interface.
2) Fracture of brittle particle
3) Decohesion of an interface associated
with shear deformation or grain
boundary sliding.

Fractured carbides aiding

microvoid formation.

Decohesion of carbide particles

from Ti matrix.

Ductile vs. Brittle Failure

Brittle Fracture

Ductile vs. Brittle Failure

Brittle Fracture
Fractografic Studies

Transgranular fracture: Cracks

Intergranular fracture: Crack

pass through grains. Fracture

surface:
faceted
texture
because of different orientation
of cleavage planes in grains.

propagation is along grain

boundaries (grain boundaries are
weakened/
embrittled
by
impurity segregation etc.)

Ductile vs. Brittle Failure

Brittle Fracture
Intergranular Fracture
Intergranular failure is
a moderate to low energy
brittle fracture mode resulting
from grain boundary
separation or segregation of
embrittling particles or
precipitates.
Embrittling grain
boundary particles are
weakly bonded with the
matrix, high free energy
and unstable, which leads to
preferential crack
propagation path.

Intergranular fracture with and without

microvoid coalescence

Ductile vs. Brittle Failure

Brittle Fracture
Characteristic for ceramics and glasses

Distinct characteristics of brittle fracture

surfaces:
1) The absence of gross plastic deformation.
2) Grainy or Faceted texture.
3) River marking or stress lines.
18

Ductile vs. Brittle Failure

Strength and Toughness
Strength
Resistance of a material
to plastic flow
Toughness
Resistance of a material
to the propagation
of a crack

How concerned should you be if you read in the
paper that cracks have been detected in the
pressure vessel of the nuclear reactor of the
power station a few miles away?

TESTING FOR TOUGHNESS

Measuring
the energy

Tear test

Impact test

This type of test provides a comparison of the toughness of

materials
however, it does not provide a way to express toughness as
a material property (no true material property that is
independent on size and shape of the test sample)

INTRODUCTION TO
FRACTURE MECHANICS
The fracture strength of a solid material is a function of the
cohesive forces that exist between atoms.

surface energy

unstrained interatomic spacing

On this basis, the theoretical cohesive strength of a brittle elastic solid

has been estimated to be approximately E/10, where E is the modulus
of elasticity.
The experimental fracture strengths of most engineering materials
normally lie between 10 and 1000 times below this theoretical value.

Why?

STRESS CONCENTRATION

Crack reduces the cross section =>

increase in stress

What will happen
with tough material?
Cracks concentrate stress
Flaws are detriment to the fracture strength because an applied
stress may be amplified or concentrated at the tip, the magnitude of
this amplification depends on crack orientation and geometry.

What Force Is Required To Break The Samples?

THEORIES OF BRITTLE FRACTURE

STRESS CONCENTRATORS
the magnitude of this localized stress
diminishes with distance away from the crack tip

The maximum stress

at the crack tip

Schematic stress profile along the line XX

A measure of the degree to

which an external stress is
amplified at the tip of a crack

stress
concentration
factor

PROBLEM
1. Consider a circular hole in a plate loaded in tension. When will material near
the hole yield?
2. A plate with a rectangular section 500 mm by 15
mm carries a tensile load of 50kN. It is made of a
ductile metal with a yield strength of 50 MPa. The
plate contains an elliptical hole of length 100 mm
and a minimum radius of 1 mm, oriented as shown
in the diagram.

What is
(a) the nominal stress
(b) The maximum stress in the plate?
(c) Will the plate start to yield?
(d) Will it collapse completely?

THEORETICAL STRESS
CONCENTRATION FACTOR
CURVES

GRIFFITH THEORY OF BRITTLE

FRACTURE
Inherent defects in brittle
materials lead to stress
concentration.
If stress exceeds the
cohesive strength of
bonds, crack
extension is possible.

28

Thermodynamic criterion:
There are two energies to be taken into
account when a crack propagates:
(1) New surfaces should be created and
a certain amount of energy must be
provided to create them;
(2) Elastic strain energy stored in the
stressed material is released during
crack propagation.

THEORY OF BRITTLE FRACTURE

The stress required to
create the new crack
surface

G 2
2

Critical stress for crack propagation

The strain energy release rate (G) is higher for higher loads and larger cracks.
If the strain energy released exceeds a critical value,
then the crack will grow spontaneously.
For brittle materials, stress can be equal to the surface energy of the (two) new
crack surfaces; in other words, in brittle materials, a crack will grow spontaneously
if the strain energy released is equal to or greater than the energy required to
grow the crack surface(s).
The stability condition can be written as
elastic energy released (G) = surface energy created (2)
If the elastic energy release is less than the critical value,
the crack will not grow.

PROBLEM
A relatively large plate of a glass is subjected to a tensile stress of 40 MPa. If
the specific surface energy and modulus of elasticity for this glass are 0.3
J/m2 and 69 GPa, respectively,

determine the maximum length of a surface flaw that is possible without
fracture.

PROBLEM: PROPERTIES OF SIALON CERAMICS

Assume that an advanced ceramic, SiAlON (silicon aluminum oxynitride),
has a tensile strength of 414 MPa.
Let us assume that this value is for a flaw-free ceramic. (In practice, it is
almost impossible to produce flaw-free ceramics.)
A crack 0.025 cm deep is observed before a SiAlON part is tested.
The part unexpectedly fails at a stress of 3.5 MPa by propagation of the crack.

Estimate the radius of the crack tip.

31

BASIC MODES OF CRACK TIP DEFORMATION

K = (EG) 1/2

critical stress for

crack propagation
KIC the critical stress intensity in
mode I fracture (plain strain)

32

FRACTURE TOUGHNESS
Fracture toughness of a material is obtained by determining
the ability of a material to withstand the load in the presence
of a sharp crack before failure.
FT is a material property;
property
Value is independent of the way it is measured;
Can be used for design

Crack propagates when the stress

intensity factor exceeds a critical value.
Y is a dimensionless parameter or function
that depends on both crack and specimen
sizes and geometries, as well as the manner
of 33
load application

ENERGY RELEASE RATE

Irwin later modified the Griffith theory by replacing the
term 2 with the potential strain energy release rate G
When a samples fractures, a new surface is created =>
necessary conditions for fracture sufficient energy
release
The critical condition to which the crack
propagates to cause global failure is when this
G value exceeds the critical value

Irwin showed that G is measurable and can

be related to the stress intensity factor, K
34

G 2

Y VALUES OF VARIOUS CRACK GEOMETRIES

35

PROCESS ZONE
A plastic zone forms at the
crack tip where the stress
would otherwise exceed
the yield strength
Size of process zone:

36

BRITTLE CLEAVAGE FRACTURE

Materials of high yield strength

Near tip stress are very high =>
tear the atomic bonds apart =>
increase in the crack length results in increase in K,
causing crack to accelerate

FRACTURE TOUGHNESS AND DESIGN

If the KIC value of material is known and the presence of a crack is
allowed, we can then monitor the crack propagation during service prior
to failure =>
How long we can use the component before it fails.

Brittle materials, for which appreciable

plastic deformation is not possible in front of
an advancing crack, have low KIc values and
are vulnerable to catastrophic failure.
Crack length necessary
for fracture at a materials
yield strength

DAMAGE TOLERANCE
Critical crack lengths are a measure of the
damage tolerance of a material

Tough metals are able to contain

large cracks but still yield in a
predictable, ductile, manner
39

FRACTURE RESISTANCE
The ability of a material to resist the growth of a crack
depends on a large number of factors:
Larger flaws reduce the permitted stress.
The ability of a material to deform is critical.
Increasing the rate of application of the load, such as
that encountered in an impact test, typically reduces
the fracture toughness of the material.
Increasing the temperature normally increases the
fracture toughness.

VARIABLES AFFECTING
FRACTURE TOUGHNESS
Metallurgical factors

Microstructure, inclusions,
impurities
Composition
Heat treatment
Thermo-mechanical processing

FRACTURE TOUGHNESS MODULUS CHART

Values range from 0.01 100 MPam

Transition crack length plotted on chart values can range from nearatomic dimensions for ceramics to almost a meter for ductile metals

FAIL-SAFE DESIGN
Yield-before-break
Requires that the crack will
not propagate even if the
stress causes the part to yield

44

Leak-before-break
Requires that a crack
just large enough to
penetrate both the inner
and outer surface of the
vessel is still stable

DESIGN USING FRACTURE MECHANICS

wall stress

Consider the thin-walled spherical tank

of radius r and thickness t that may be
used as a pressure vessel.
One design of such a tank calls for yielding of the wall material prior
to failure as a result of the formation of a crack of critical size and its
subsequent rapid propagation.
Thus, plastic distortion of the wall may be observed and the pressure
within the tank released before the occurrence of catastrophic failure.
Consequently, materials having large critical crack lengths are
desired.

On the basis of this criterion, rank the metal alloys listed

in Table, as to critical crack size, from longest to shortest.

DESIGN PROCESS YIELDYIELD-BEFOREBEFOREFRACTURE

Requirement:
The stresses are everywhere less
that required to make a crack of
critical length to propagate.
BUT!!! It is not safe
Requirement:
Crack should not propagate
even if the stress is sufficient to
cause general yield for then the
vessel will deform stably in a way
that can be detected.

Tolerable crack size

46

DESIGN PROBLEM - LEAK-BEFORE-BREAK

An alternative design that is also often utilized with pressure vessels is termed leakbefore-break. Using principles of fracture mechanics, allowance is made for the growth
of a crack through the thickness of the vessel wall prior to the occurrence of rapid crack
propagation. Thus, the crack will completely penetrate the wall without catastrophic
failure, allowing for its detection by the leaking of pressurized fluid.
With this criterion the critical crack length ac (i.e., one-half of the total internal crack
length) is taken to be equal to the pressure vessel thickness t.
2a = t

47

Using this criterion, rank

the metal alloys in Table as
to the maximum allowable
pressure.

FORENSIC FRACTURE CASE

 K1c of the tank material measured to be
45 MPam
 10 mm crack found in longitudinal weld

Stress based on
maximum design
pressure
Stress at which a plate with the given K1c
will fail with a 10 mm crack

48

DUCTILE-TO-BRITTLE TRANSITION
At low temperatures some metals and all polymers become
brittle
As temperatures decrease, yield strengths of most materials
increase leading to a reduction in the plastic zone size
Only metals with an FCC structure remain ductile at the lowest
temperatures
The ductile to brittle transition temperature is the temperature at
which the failure mode of a material changes from ductile to brittle
fracture.

DUCTILE TO BRITTLE TRANSITION

BEHAVIOUR
Some metals and polymers experience ductile-to-brittle transition behaviour
when subjected to decreasing temperature, resulting from a strong yield stress
dependence on temperature.
Metals possess limited
slip systems available at low
temperature, minimising the
plastic deformation during the
fracture process.
Increasing temperature
allows more slip systems to
operate, yielding general
plastic deformation to occur
prior to failure.

WHEN DUCTILE TURN TO BRITTLE

The criterion for a material to change its fracture behaviour from ductile
to brittle mode is when the yield stress at the observed temperature is larger
than the stress necessary for the growth of the micro-crack indicated in the
Griffith theory
The criterion for ductile to brittle
transition is when the term on the
left hand side is greater than the right
hand side.
is the lattice resistance to dislocation
movement
k is a parameter related to the release of
dislocation into a pile-up
D is the grain diameter (associated with slip
length).
G is the shear modulus
is a constant depending on the stress system

WHY DONT SOME MATERIALS

UNDERGO TRANSITION?
Unlike steel, aluminium does not undergo a ductile-brittle transition. The reason can
be explained in terms of their crystal structure.
The yield stress of steel is temperature sensitive because of its BCC structure. At low
temperatures it is more difficult for the dislocations to move (they require a degree of
diffusion to move due to the non-close packed nature of the slip planes) and therefore
plastic deformation becomes more difficult. The effect of this is to increase the yield
stress at low temperatures.

Aluminium has a FCC structure, this means

that it has lots of easily operated closepacked slip systems operating at low
temperatures. As a result its yield strength is
not temperature sensitive and aluminium
remains ductile to low temperatures.

BAD LUCK OF TITANIC

The sinking of the Titanic was caused primarily by the brittleness of the
steel used to construct the hull of the ship.
In the icy water of the Atlantic, the steel was below the ductile to brittle
transition temperature.

FACTORS AFFECTING MODES OF

FRACTURE

The yield stress of steel is temperature

sensitive. The fracture stress remains relatively
constant with temperature.

At room temperature steel is a ductile material, this

means that it will undergo plastic deformation before
fracture i.e. the yield strength of the material is less
than the fracture stress.
At low temperatures the yield stress of steel
increases, when the yield stress increases above
the fracture stress the material will undergo a
ductile-to-brittle transition.

THE STRENGTHTOUGHNESS TRADE-OFF

Increasing the yield
strength of a metal
decreasing the size
of the plastic zone
surrounding a crack
this leads to decreased
toughness

INSPECTIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Visual
Liquid Penetrant
Magnetic
Ultrasonic
Eddy Current
X-ray

INSPECTIONS
1. VISUAL INSPECTION
Most basic and common
inspection method.
Tools include fiberscopes,
borescopes, magnifying
glasses and mirrors.
Portable video inspection unit
with zoom allows inspection
of large tanks and vessels,
railroad tank cars, sewer lines.
Robotic crawlers permit
observation in hazardous or tight
areas, such as air ducts, reactors,
pipelines.

INSPECTIONS
2. LIQUID PENETRANT INSPECTION
A liquid with high surface wetting characteristics is applied to
the surface of the part and allowed time to seep into surface
breaking defects.

The excess liquid is removed from the surface of the

part.
A developer (powder) is applied to pull the trapped
penetrant out the defect and spread it on the surface where it
can be seen.
Visual inspection is the final step in the process. The
penetrant used is often loaded with a fluorescent dye and the
inspection is done under UV light to increase test sensitivity.

INSPECTIONS
3. MAGNETIC PARTICLE INSPECTION
The part is magnetized. Finely milled iron particles coated with a dye pigment
are then applied to the specimen. These particles are attracted to magnetic flux
leakage fields and will cluster to form an indication directly over the
discontinuity. This indication can be visually detected under proper lighting
conditions.

INSPECTIONS
Magnetic Particle Crack Indications

INSPECTIONS
4. RADIOGRAPHY
The radiation used in radiography testing is a
higher energy (shorter wavelength) version of
the electromagnetic waves that we
see as visible light. The radiation can come
from an X-ray generator or a radioactive
source.

High Electrical Potential

Electrons
+

X-ray
Generator or
Radioactive
Source Creates
Radiation

Radiation
Penetrate
the Sample
Exposure Recording Device

INSPECTIONS
5. EDDY CURRENT TESTING
Eddy current testing is particularly well suited for detecting surface cracks but can also be
used to make electrical conductivity and coating thickness measurements. Here a small
surface probe is scanned over the part surface in an attempt to detect a crack

INSPECTIONS
6. ULTRASONIC INSPECTION (PULSE-ECHO)
High frequency sound waves are introduced into a material and they are reflected back
from surfaces or flaws.
Reflected sound energy is displayed versus time, and inspector can visualize a cross
section of the specimen showing the depth of features that reflect sound.

initial
pulse

crack
echo

back surface
echo

crack
0

10

plate

Oscilloscope, or
flaw detector screen

ULTRASONIC IMAGING
High resolution images can be produced by plotting signal
strength or time-of-flight using a computer-controlled scanning
system.

Gray scale image produced using the

sound reflected from the front surface
of the coin

Gray scale image produced using the

sound reflected from the back surface of
the coin (inspected from heads side)

COMMON APPLICATION OF NDT

Inspection of Raw Products
Inspection Following Secondary Processing
In-Services Damage Inspection

INSPECTION OF RAW PRODUCTS

Forgings,
Castings,
Extrusions,
etc.

INSPECTION FOLLOWING
SECONDARY PROCESSING
Machining
Welding
Grinding
Heat treating
Plating
etc.

INSPECTION FOR
IN-SERVICE DAMAGE
Cracking
Corrosion
Erosion/Wear
Heat Damage
etc.

POWER PLANT INSPECTION

Periodically, power plants are
shutdown for inspection.
Inspectors feed eddy current probes
into heat exchanger tubes to check
for corrosion damage.

Pipe with damage

Probe
Signals produced by
various amounts of
corrosion thinning.

WIRE ROPE INSPECTION

Electromagnetic devices and
visual inspections are used to find
broken wires and other damage to
the wire rope that is used in
chairlifts, cranes and other lifting
devices.

STORAGE TANK INSPECTION

Robotic crawlers use
ultrasound to inspect the
walls of large above
ground tanks for signs
of thinning due to
corrosion.
Cameras on long
articulating arms
are used to inspect
underground
storage tanks for
damage.

AIRCRAFT INSPECTION
Nondestructive testing is used
extensively during the manufacturing
of aircraft.
NDT is also used to find cracks and
corrosion damage during operation
of the aircraft.
A fatigue crack that started at the site
of a lightning strike is shown below.

JET ENGINE INSPECTION

Aircraft engines are overhauled after
being in service for a period of time.
They are completely disassembled,
cleaned, inspected and then reassembled.
Fluorescent penetrant inspection is used
to check many of the parts for cracking.

CRASH OF UNITED FLIGHT 232

Sioux City, Iowa, July 19, 1989
A defect that went
undetected in an engine
disk was responsible for the
crash of United Flight 232.

PRESSURE VESSEL INSPECTION

The failure of a pressure vessel can
result in the rapid release of a large
amount of energy. To protect against
this dangerous event, the tanks are
inspected using radiography and
ultrasonic testing.

RAIL
INSPECTION
Special cars are used to inspect
thousands of miles of rail to
find cracks that could lead to a
derailment.

BRIDGE INSPECTION
The US has 578,000 highway
bridges.
Corrosion, cracking and other
damage can all affect a bridges
performance.
The collapse of the Silver
Bridge in 1967 resulted in loss
of 47 lives.
Bridges get a visual inspection
about every 2 years.
Some bridges are fitted with
acoustic emission sensors that
listen for sounds of cracks
growing.

PIPELINE INSPECTION
NDT is used to inspect pipelines to
prevent leaks that could damage the
environment. Visual inspection,
radiography and electromagnetic testing
are some of the NDT methods used.

Remote visual inspection using a

robotic crawler.

Magnetic flux leakage inspection. This

device, known as a pig, is placed in the
pipeline and collects data on the
condition of the pipe as it is pushed
along by whatever is being transported.
Radiography of weld joints.

SPECIAL MEASUREMENTS
Boeing employees in Philadelphia were given the privilege of evaluating
the Liberty Bell for damage using NDT techniques. Eddy current methods
were used to measure the electrical conductivity of the Bell's bronze
casing at various points to evaluate its uniformity.

REFERENCES
1.

Dieter, G.E., Mechanical metallurgy, 1988, SI metric edition,

McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-100406-8.

2.

Sanford, R.J., Principles of fracture mechanics, 2003, Prentice Hall,

New Jersey, ISBN 0-13-092992-1.

3.

Callister WD, Material Science anda Engineering an Introduction,

six edition, 2003, John Wiley & Sons, Singapure.