FRACTURE TYPES

- Ductile Fracture
- Non-Ductile Fracture

Fracture – The (local) separation of an object or material into two, or more, pieces under the action of
stress.

2 TYPES OF FRACTURE:

1. Ductile
2. Non-Ductile (Brittle)

Ductile Fracture

DUCTILITY is a solid materials ability to deform under tensile stress. If a ductile material reaches
its ultimate tensile strength in a load-controlled situation, it will continue to deform, with no additional
load application until it ruptures. But this situation can be prevented if the load is displacement-
controlled because the material may relieve the load.

Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (UTS) or ultimate strength is
the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before necking, which
is when the specimens cross-section starts to significantly contract. In ductile materials, it takes time
before it reaches its UTS therefore, producing larger necking than brittle ones.

Crack initiation and propagation is essential to fracture. The manner how crack propagates into
the material gives great insight into which mode it belongs. (Plastic deformation is change in the shape
or size of an object due to an applied force or a change in temperature.)

Characteristics of Ductile Materials:

1. Crack moves slowly and is accompanied by a large amount of plastic deformation.

2. Crack will not usually extend unless an increased stress is applied.
3. Have larger necking regions and an over-all rougher appearance than a brittle fracture surface.
4. Appears to be rough and irregular, contains many micro voids and dimples.
5. Plastically deformed, it slows down the process of fracture and giving an ample time fir the
problem to be corrected.
6. Because of plastic deformation, more strain energy is needed to cause ductile fracture.
7. They are considered to be “forgiving” materials, because of their toughness you can make a
mistake in the use, design of a ductile material and still the material will probably not fail.
8. It can be enhanced to strengthening mechanisms. (E.g. Strain hardening or Work hardening –
the ductile is deformed more and more its strength and hardness increases because of
generation of more and more dislocations.
STRESS-STRAIN CURVE

The Stress-Strain Curve shows the relationship of stress ad strain. It is unique for each material
and is found by recording the mount of deformation (strain) at distinct intervals of tensile or
compressive loading (stress). Stress-strain curves of various materials vary widely, and different tensile
tests conducted on the same material yield different results, depending upon the temperature of the
specimen and the speed of the loading. It is possible, however, to divide materials into twoo broad
categories; namely, the ductile materials and the brittle materials.

NON-DUCTILE FRACTURE

What is Non-Ductile Fracture?

Non-ductile fracture is the material that are brittle and break easily are non-ductile.
Conventional concrete is non-ductile (and breaks under stress of earthquakes or other tensile
challenge).

Non-Ductile Fractures can be obtained as Brittle Fractures.

Brittle fractures have a smooth or woody appearance at low magnification. At high

magnification, brittle fractures are either smooth, when the fracture cuts through the metal grains, or
faceted like rock candy, when the fracture follows the grain boundaries.
 Brittle fracture in glass.

Fracture of an Aluminum Crank Arm. Bright: Brittle fracture. Dark: Fatigue Fracture.

In brittle fracture, no apparent plastic deformation takes place before fracture. In brittle
crystalline materials, fracture can occur by cleavage as the result of tensile stress acting normal to
crystallographic planes with low bonding (cleavage planes). In amorphous solids, by contrast, the lack of
a crystalline structure results in a conchoidal fracture, with cracks proceeding normal to the applied
tension.

The theoretical strength of a crystalline material is(roughly)