Stress Concentration

Table below shows the value of max/E which was obtained experimentally for a
few materials
Material

E
(Nm-2)

max
(Nm-2)

max/E

High strength steel

Aluminium alloy
Glass
PMMA
PS

21 x 1010
7 x 1010
7 x 1010
3 x 109
3 x 109

3 x 109
7 x 108
6 x 107
5 x 107
6 x 107

1/70
1/100
1/1167
1/60
1/50

From the table, we can observe that the values of max/E are within the range
of 1/50 for polystyrene to 1/1167 for glass. From this, it can be concluded that in
general, the max/E ratio is lower that that predicted theoretically, 1/10. This
difference arises because of the presence of defects in the morphology or
structure of the material. These defects, mostly caused by cracks, microvoids,
scratches and many others during processing or sample preparation, can act as
stress concentration points and bring about pre-mature failure. For materials
with a perfect structure, the fracture strength values should be nearly the same
as the theoretical tensile strength values.

When a homogeneous, isotropic and perfect solid, without any form of defects,
whether microscopic or macroscopic, is subjected to external force, the stress
distribution in the sample will be evenly distributed. However, if there are defects in
the substance such as a microvoid, cracks, scratches sharp internal angles and
others, this will induce stress adhesion in areas surrounding those particular defects
when the material is subjected to external load like tensile stress. To better
understand this, we can consider an approach suggested by Inglis in 1913. Using a
plate of elastic material containing an elliptical crack and subjecting that plate to
tensile stress, a, as shown in Figure below.

Griffiths Fracture Theory

The idea brought forward by Inglis that the point stress surrounding a
crack end is higher than the stress applied on the whole sample, was
expanded by A.A. Griffith in 1920. According to Griffith, the fracture
energy required for a brittle material is not spread evenly throughout
the volume of the sample. Instead, there are areas that have higher
stress concentrations because of the presence of structural defects
such as cracks in the material.

Among the important assumptions made when formulating the Griffith theory
are:
The materials being considered have a linear elasticity, or exhibiting a
glass elasticity characteristic until the point of fracture, and the strain involved
is infinitesimal.
The specimen geometry is infinite in two directions, which is an infinite piece
which has a crack with a length of 2a and which is located in the centre of the
specimen. The specimen thickness is very small compared to the crack length.
The crack end radius has a value of zero. A simple tensile force type loading,
o, is applied on the specimen which is located at a distance far from the crack
and the load is transverse to the main axis of the crack. This is shown in Figure
above.
When crack propagation happens, outside forces do not do any work. In other
words, the border being considered does not move. This situation is known as
a constant strain state. The theory assumes that the fracture starts at the
highest stress concentration point and is followed by catastrophic crack
propagation which ends in brittle failure.

The tensile strength has been found to decrease with an increase in the crack
length, just as it was predicted by the Griffith theory. However, the specific
surface energy values of 1.7 kJm-2 and 0.3 kJm-2 for polystyrene and
polymethyl methacrylate respectively, show a lot of deviation from the values
expected, being in the range of 0.1 1.0 Jm-2 for organic solids. Berys
research also shows that there is a overhead value for the crack length. When
a < 0.07 mm for PMMA and a < 1.0 mm for PS, the tensile strength is not found
to be proportionate with the defect size. In other words, an artificial defect with a
smaller size will not affect the strength of that material. Other researches done
on PS and PMMA which do not contain any artificial defects have found that
both material are capable of forming fine cracks during the deformation
process. Fine cracks are formed because molecules are orientated in the form
of fibrils and the fibrils are separated from one another by microvoids. These
microvoids function as pathways for crack propagation through the degradation
of the fibrils. As such, it is considered a pioneer for cracks. From this
observation, it can be concluded that the defect size is a determining factor as
to whether a material will fail via artificial defect or fine cracks. When a material
has a defect bigger than the inherent defect size, or the fine crack size is
subjected to load, the failure is wholly controlled by the artificial defect and vice
versa.

From the discussion above, it can be seen that although the Griffith theory is
capable of explaining the fracture process, there are a few limitations to it, such as:
i.
The surface energy obtained is generally bigger than that given by
Griffiths theory. This could be because of Griffiths approach that assumes
every material behaves elastically until the fracture limit and that there is
no
plastic deformation during fracture. This will be discussed in detail later.
ii.
Griffith used Ingliss approach which is based on the presence of linear
elasticity, low strain and perfect elasticity in a material. In reality, this
condition
does not exist in materials such as polymers.
iii.
The Griffith theory does not take into account the strain rate effect.
Previous discussions in the brittle ductile transition topic has shown that for
viscoelastic materials such as polymers, the strain rate has a very large contribution
towards the fracture process.