Fracture

Simple fracture is the separation of a body into two or more pieces in response to an imposed stress
that is static (i.e., constant or slowly changing with time) and at temperatures that are low relative to
the melting temperature of the material. For engineering materials, two fracture modes are possible:
ductile and brittle. Classification is based on the ability of a material to experience plastic deformation.
Ductile fracture Brittle fracture
Typically exhibit substantial
plastic deformation
There is normally little or no
plastic deformation

high energy absorption before
fracture
low energy absorption
accompanying a brittle
fracture.





Any fracture process involves two stepscrack formation and propagationin response to an
imposed stress. The mode of fracture is highly dependent on the mechanism of crack propagation.
Ductile fracture is characterized by extensive plastic deformation in the vicinity of an advancing crack.
Furthermore, the process proceeds relatively slowly as the crack length is extended. Such a crack is
often said to be stable. That is, it resists any further extension unless there is an increase in the applied
stress. In addition, there will ordinarily be evidence of appreciable gross deformation at the fracture
surfaces (e.g., twisting and tearing). On the other hand, for brittle fracture, cracks may spread extremely
rapidly, with very little accompanying plastic deformation. Such cracks may be said to be unstable, and
crack propagation, once started, will continue spontaneously without an increase in magnitude of the
applied stress.
Ductile fracture is almost always preferred for two reasons. First, brittle fracture occurs
suddenly and catastrophically without any warning; this is a consequence of the spontaneous and rapid
crack propagation. On the other hand, for ductile fracture, the presence of plastic deformation gives
warning that fracture is imminent, allowing preventive measures to be taken. Second, more strain
energy is required to induce ductile fracture inasmuch as ductile materials are generally tougher. Under
the action of an applied tensile stress, most metal alloys are ductile, whereas ceramics are notably
brittle, and polymers may exhibit both types of fracture.
DUCTILE FRACTURE
Ductile fracture surfaces will have their own distinctive features on both macroscopic and microscopic
levels. Figure 8.1 shows schematic representations for two characteristic macroscopic fracture
profiles.The configuration shown in Figure 8.1a is found for extremely soft metals, such as pure gold and
lead at room temperature, and other metals, polymers, and inorganic glasses at elevated temperatures.
These highly ductile materials neck down to a point fracture, showing virtually 100% reduction in area.
The most common type of tensile fracture profile for ductile metals is that represented in Figure 8.1b,
where fracture is preceded by only a moderate amount of necking. The fracture process normally occurs
in several stages (Figure 8.2). First,after necking begins, small cavities, or microvoids, form in the interior
of the cross section, as indicated in Figure 8.2b. Next, as deformation continues, these microvoids
enlarge, come together, and coalesce to form an elliptical crack, which has its long axis perpendicular to
the stress direction. The crack continues to grow in a direction parallel to its major axis by this microvoid
coalescence process (Figure 8.2c). Finally, fracture ensues by the rapid propagation of a crack around
the outer perimeter of the neck (Figure 8.2d), by shear deformation at an angle of about with the
tensile axisthis is the angle at which the shear stress is a maximum. Sometimes a fracture having this
characteristic surface contour is termed a cup-and-cone fracture because one of the mating surfaces
is in the form of a cup, the other like a cone. In this type of fractured specimen (Figure 8.3a), the central
interior region of the surface has an irregular and fibrous appearance, which is indicative of plastic
deformation.

8.4 BRITTLE FRACTURE
Brittle fracture takes place without any appreciable deformation, and by rapid crack propagation. The
direction of crack motion is very nearly perpendicular to the direction of the applied tensile stress and
yields a relatively flat fracture surface, as indicated in Figure 8.1c. Fracture surfaces of materials that
failed in a brittle manner will have their own distinctive patterns; any signs of gross plastic
deformation will be absent. For example, in some steel pieces, a series of V-shaped chevron
markings may form near the center of the fracture cross section that point back toward the crack
initiation site (Figure 8.5a). Other brittle fracture surfaces contain lines or ridges that radiate from the
origin of the crack in a fanlike pattern (Figure 8.5b). Often, both of these marking patterns will be
sufficiently coarse to be discerned with the naked eye. For very hard and fine-grained metals, there will
be no discernible fracture pattern. Brittle fracture in amorphous materials, such as ceramic glasses,
yields a relatively shiny and smooth surface.
For most brittle crystalline materials, crack propagation corresponds to the successive and repeated
breaking of atomic bonds along specific crystallographic planes (Figure 8.6a); such a process is termed
cleavage. This type of fracture is said to be transgranular (or transcrystalline), because the fracture
cracks pass through the grains. Macroscopically, the fracture surface may have a grainy or faceted
texture (Figure 8.3b), as a result of changes in orientation of the cleavage planes from grain to grain.
This cleavage feature is shown at a higher magnification in the scanning electron micrograph of Figure
8.6b.In some alloys, crack propagation is along grain boundaries (Figure 8.7a); this fracture is termed
intergranular. Figure 8.7b is a scanning electron micrograph


FRACTURE MECHANICS
The study of crack behavior, prevention and analysis of fracture of materials is known as fracture
mechanics. This subject allows quantification of the relationships between material properties, stress
level, the presence of crack-producing flaws, and crack propagation mechanisms.
Stress Concentration
A geometrical discontinuity in a body, such as a hole or a notch, results in a nonuniform stress
distribution at the vicinity of the discontinuity. At some region near the discontinuity the stress will be
higher than the average stress at distances removed from the discontinuity. Thus, a stress concentration
occurs at the discontinuity. This phenomenon is demonstrated in Fig, a stress profile across a cross
section containing an internal crack. As indicated by this profile, the magnitude of this localized stress
diminishes with distance away from the crack tip. At positions far removed, the stress is just the nominal
stress or the applied load divided by the specimen cross-sectional area (perpendicular to this load). Due
to their ability to amplify an applied stress in their locale, these flaws are sometimes called stress
raisers.


Figure :a) The geometry of surface and internal cracks. (b) Schematic stress profile along the line X-X in (a), demonstrating
stress amplification at crack tip positions

If it is assumed that a crack is similar to an elliptical hole through a plate, and is oriented perpendicular
to the applied stress, the maximum stress, occurs at the crack tip and may be approximated by

m
= 2
o
(

where
o
is the magnitude of the nominal applied tensile stress,

is the radius of curvature of the

crack tip , and a represents the length of a surface crack, or half of the length of an internal crack. For a
relatively long microcrack that has a small tip radius of curvature, the factor (

may be very large.

This will yield a value of
m
that is many times the value of
o
.


Sometimes the ratio

is denoted as the stress concentration factor K

t
K
t
=

= 2 (

which is simply a measure of the degree to which an external stress is amplified at the tip of a crack.
Fracture Toughness
Using fracture mechanical principles, an expression has been developed that relates this critical stress
for crack propagation (
c
) and crack length (a) as
K
C
= Y
c

In this expression K
C
is the fracture toughness, a property that is a measure of a materials resistance to
brittle fracture when a crack is present. Furthermore, Y is a dimensionless parameter or function that
depends on both crack and specimen sizes and geometries, as well as the manner of load application.
Relative to this Y parameter, for planar specimens containing cracks that are much shorter than
the specimen width, Y has a value of approximately unity.
Theoretical Cohesive Strength of Metals
In the most basic terms the strength of metals is due to the cohesive forces between atoms. In general,
high cohesive forces are related to large elastic constants (modulus of elasticity or stiffness ), high
melting points, and small coefficients of thermal expansion. Fig shows the variation of the cohesive
force between two atoms as a function of the separation between these atoms.

This curve is the resultant of the attractive and repulsive forces between the atoms. The inter atomic
spacing of the atoms in the unstrained condition is indicated by a
o
. If the crystal is subjected to a tensile
load, the separation between atoms will be increased. The repulsive force decreases more rapidly with
increased separation than the attractive force, so that a net force between atoms balances the tensile
load. As the tensile load is increased still further, the repulsive force continues to decrease. A point is
reached where the repulsive force is negligible and the attractive force is decreasing because of the
increased separation of the atoms. This corresponds to the maximum in the curve, which is equal to the
theoretical cohesive strength of the material.
Griffith Theory of Brittle Fracture
The first explanation of the discrepancy between the observed fracture strength of crystals and the
theoretical cohesive strength was proposed by Griffith. Griffith proposed that a brittle material contains
a population of fine cracks which produce a stress concentration of sufficient magnitude so that the
theoretical cohesive strength is reached in localized regions at a nominal stress which is well below the
theoretical value. When one of the cracks 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, expressed in another way, it requires an increase in 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 crack
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 .Consider the crack model shown in Fig. 7-3.
The thickness of the plate is negligible, and so the problem can be treated as one in plane stress. The
cracks are assumed to have an elliptical cross section. For a crack at the interior the length is 2c, while
for an edge crack it is c. The effect of both types of crack on the fracture behavior is the same. A
decrease in strain energy results from the formation of a crack. The elastic strain energy per unit of plate
thickness is equal to
U
E
= -

where is the tensile stress acting normal to the crack of length 2c. The surface energy due to the
presence of the crack is
U
S
= 4c
The total change in potential energy resulting from the creation of the crack is
U = U
S
+ U
E

According to Griffith's criterion, the crack will propagate under a constant applied stress if an
incremental increase in crack length produces no change in the total energy of the system; i.e., the
increased surface energy is compensated by a decrease in elastic strain energy.

= 0 =

(4c -

)
4 -

= 0
=
2

Above Equation gives the critical stress required to propagate a crack in a brittle material as a function
of the size of the microcrack. It indicates that the fracture stress is inversely proportional to the square
root of the crack length. Thus, increasing the crack length by a factor of 4 reduces the fracture stress by
one-half.
IMPACT FRACTURE TESTING
Impact test conditions were chosen to represent those most severe relative to the potential for fracture
namely, (1) deformation at a relatively low temperature, (2) a high strain rate (i.e., rate of deformation),
and (3) a triaxial stress state (which may be introduced by the presence of a notch).
Impact Testing Techniques
Two standardized tests, the Charpy and Izod, were designed and are still used to measure the impact
energy. For both Charpy and Izod, the specimen is in the shape of a bar of square cross section, into
which a V-notch is machined . The apparatus for making V-notch impact tests is illustrated
schematically in Fig. The load is applied as an impact blow from a weighted pendulum hammer that
is released from a cocked position at a fixed height h. The specimen is positioned at the base as
shown. Upon release, a knife edge mounted on the pendulum strikes and fractures the specimen at the
notch, which acts as a point of stress concentration for this high-velocity impact blow. The
pendulum continues its swing, rising to a maximum height which is lower than h. The energy
absorption, computed from the difference between h and is a measure of the impact energy. The
primary difference between the Charpy and Izod techniques lies in the manner of specimen support, as
illustrated in Figure 8.12b. Furthermore, these are termed impact tests in light of the manner of load
application. Variables including specimen size and shape as well asnotch configuration and depth
influence the test results.