CHAPTER 2 :

FRACTURE
BEHAVIOUR

Griffiths theory of brittle

fracture
Griffith proposed ideas that did have a great influence on the
thinking about the fracture of metals.
He proposed that a brittle material contains a population of fine
cracks which produces a stress concentration of sufficient
magnitude so that the theoretical cohesive strength is reached
in localized regions at a nominal stress which is below the
theoretical value.
When one crack starts spreads into a brittle fracture , it produces
an increase in the surface area of the sides of the crack.
This requires energy to overcome the cohesive force of the
atoms , or when expressed in another way , it requires an
increase in the surface energy.
The source of the increased surface energy is the elastic strain
energy which is released as the crack spreads.

Griffith established the following

criterion for the propagation of a crack.

A crack will propagate when the

decrease in elastic strain energy is
at least equal to the energy
required to create the new
surface.
This criterion can be used to determine
the magnitude of the tensile stress
which will just cause a crack of a
certain size to propagate as a brittle
fracture.
The elastic strain energy required per
unite of the plate thickness is equal to :

Ue=-((c^2)(^2))/E
Where =Tensile stress acting normal to the
crack of length 2a
A negative sign is used because growth of
the crack releases elastic strain energy.

Stress Intensity Factor

Thestress intensity
factor ,K, is used infracture
mechanicsto predict
thestressstate ("stress
intensity") near the tip of a crack
caused by a remoteloador
stresses.
The magnitude ofKdepends
on sample geometry, the size
and location of the crack, and the
magnitude and the distribution of
loads on the material.
The stress intensity factor for the
crack as show in the following
figure is given as :

K=(a)

For a general case the stress intensity factor is written by

the following formula :
K=(a)
Where is a parameter that depends on the specimen and
crack geometry.

Fracture toughness

Fracture toughnessis a property

which describes the ability of a
material containing a crack to resist
fracture , and is one of the most
important properties of any material
for virtually all design applications.
The linear-elastic fracture toughness of
a material is determined from
theStress intensity factor(K) at
which a thin crack in the material
begins to grow.
The Fracture toughness is entirely a
material property like Ultimate stress
of a material , and hence the fracture
toughness is independent of the crack
length , geometry , or loading system
and depends only on the nature of
the material.
They are generally represented as
Kic.

Ductile-to-Brittle Transition

The ductile to brittle transition is a very

important engineering phenomenon
which causes the ductile to brittle
transition in fracture behavior , which
commonly occurs with decrease in
temperate as in the case of steel and the
other bcc materials as well.

The temperature that governs the

transition of the fracture from ductile
to brittle is known as the transition
temperature.
Key features :

High frictional resistance would always

lead to a brittle fracture .
When the surface energy is large then the
brittle fracture is suppressed.

As seen in the following diagram ,

(a) Brittle fracture
(b)Ductile fracture
(c) Completely Ductile fracture

Creep

Creep is referred to the

progressive deformation of the
material at a constant stress.
A plot of the strain of the
material upon applying a
constant load and a constant
temperature , against the time
gives you the creep curve as
shown.
The rate at which the strain
changes with respect to time is
called as the Creep rate.
During the initial load the creep
rate decreases with time then
essentially reaches a steady state
in which the creep rate changes
little with time, and finally the
creep rate increases rapidly with
time until fracture occurs.

 There are 3 stages to the creep curve .

Primary creep :In this stage that the creep
rate gradually decreases with time , and
the above occurs as a consequence of the
creep resistance due to the material
deformation under the load .
Secondary creep :In this stage , the creep
rate is almost nearly a constant .The
above is possible due to the balancing
effects of strain hardening and
recovery acting as competing processes.
Tertiary creep :In this stage, occurs in
constant load creep tests carried out at
high temperatures ,at high stresses. This
occurs as a consequence of the necking
of the metal before it undergoes the
fracture .
The third stage is often associated with
metallurgical changes recrystallization
etc.

Deformation mechanism
maps

A deformation mechanism map is

a way of representing the
dominant deformation mechanism
in a material loaded under a given
set of conditions and thereby its
likely failure mode. Deformation
mechanism maps consist of some
kind of stress plotted against
some kind of temperature axis.
The various types of deformations
or creeps are mentioned in the
map , each separated by
boundaries or lines.
An example is as shown in the
diagram on the right hand side .

Fatigue
Fatigueis the progressive and localized structural damage
that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loading.
The nominal maximum stressvalues are less than
theultimate tensile values.
Fatigue results in a brittle-appearing fracture, with no gross
deformation at fracture.
On macroscopic scales , the fatigue surface is normal to the
direction of the principle tensile stress.
The fatigue failure is usually recognized with the presence of
both smooth hand rough regions.
The smooth regions occur as a consequence of the rubbing
action as the crack propagated and the rough regions occur
as a consequence of ductile failure when the cross section is
no longer able to carry the load.
Failure usually occurs at points of stress concentration
such as sharp corners or notches .

There are three basic factors for the

fatigue failure : Maximum tensile stress of sufficiently
high value
A large variation or fluctuation in the
applied stress and
A sufficiently large number of cycles of
the applied stress.
In addition there are host of other
variables like corrosion , temperature ,
overload , stress concentration ,
metallurgical structure.

STRESS CYCLE :A stress cycle is defined as a change

in the force distribution being applied
upon the material at regular intervals .
They can be of many types such as
reverse (a) , repeated (b), irregular or
random stress cycles (c) as well .
The types are as shown in the figure .

High-cycle fatigue
High cycle fatigue of the material is that
failure that occurs when the number of
cycles that the material undergoes in very
high that is in the order of 10,000 cycles etc.
The following are the key features necessary
for the high cycle fatigue.
- Stress below yield strength
- Macroscopically brittle
- May be very long life

S-N Curves
In high-cycle fatigue
situations, materials
performance is
commonly
characterized by an
S-N curve, also
known as a Whler
curve . This is a
graph of the
magnitude of a
cyclic stress (S)
against the
logarithmic scale of
cycles to failure (N).

Mechanism involved
There are three steps to the High
cycle fatigue .
Local yielding at a defect or in a
stress concentration (filet root,
scratch, bend, hole)
Dislocation pile up/ saturation
Crack formation
Crack propagation

Low cycle fatigue

When fatigue occurs within lesser
number of cycles with stresses
greater that yielding strength is
called as the low fatigue failure .
The features are as follows : Stress exceeds yield strength
Very few cycles to failure
Lots of plastic deformation

Mechanism involved
There are 4 steps
again:
Sharp Crack
closed
Stress opens crack
Tip of crack blunts
Crack closure/
sharpening
Repeat

Fracture of non metallic

materials
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 special
type of fracture, with cracks
proceeding normal to the
applied tension.

Failure Analysis

Failure analysis is process of obtaining information (as much as

possible ) from the failed part itself along with the investigation of
the conditions at the time of failure .
A component is said to have failed is the unacceptable
deformation or fracture, which is a relative term. (The term varies
depending upon the product description)
The failure analysis has its fundamental use in the Reliability of
the product being manufactured that determines his popularity and
the extent to which customer satisfaction is achieved by the same .
There various types of failures that occur , some of them are as
follows :
Fracture
Fatigue
Creep

Source of failure
Failure causes are defects in design, process, quality, or part application, which
are the underlying cause of a failure or which initiate a process which leads to
failure. Where failure depends on the user of the product or process, then
human error must be considered.
They include corrosion, welding of contacts due to an abnormal electrical
current, return spring fatigue failure, unintended command failure, dust
accumulation and blockage of mechanism, etc.
The real root causes found in most cases be traced back to some kind of
human error, e.g. design failure, operational errors.
Some types of mechanical failure mechanisms are: excessive deflection, ductile
fracture, brittle fracture, impact, creep, relaxation, thermal shock, wear,
corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, and various types of fatigue.
Each produces a different type of fracture surface, and other indicators near
the fracture surface(s).
The way the product is loaded, and the loading history are also important
factors which determine the outcome. Of critical importance is design
geometry because stress concentrations can magnify the applied load locally
to very high levels, and from which cracks usually grow.

Procedure to Failure analysis

They are of many steps :Initial observation :
Make a detailed visual study of the actual component that failed.
Record all details by photographs
Interpretation must be made of deformation markings, fracture
appearance, deterioration etc.
Background data :
Collect all data concerned with specifications and drawings, component
design, fabrication, repairs, maintenance and service use.
Laboratory studies:
Verify the chemical composition of the material within specified limits.
Other tests such as NDT(Non destructive tests) , heat treatment are
carried out.
Synthesis of Failure :
Study all the positives and negatives of the situation and indicate a
solution to the problem of failure.

Thank you