FRACTURE

Brittle Fracture
Ductile to Brittle transition

Fracture Mechanics
T.L. Anderson
CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA (1995)

Continuity of the structure

Welding instead of riveting

Breaking
of
Liberty Ships

Cold waters
High sulphur in steel

Residual stress
Microcracks

Ductile
Fracture
Brittle

Temperature
Factors affecting fracture

Strain rate
State of stress

Behaviour described

Terms Used

Crystallographic mode

Shear

Cleavage

Appearance of Fracture surface

Fibrous

Granular / bright

Strain to fracture

Ductile

Brittle

Path

Transgranular

Intergranular

Tension
Torsion
Fatigue
Conditions of fracture

Creep
Low temperature Brittle fracture
Temper embrittlement
Hydrogen embrittlement

Types of failure

Low Temperature
Promoted by

High Strain rate

Triaxial state of State of stress

Brittle fracture
Little or no deformation
Observed in single crystals and polycrystals
Have been observed in BCC and HCP metals but not in FCC metals

Slip plane

Shear fracture of ductile single crystals

Not observed in polycrystals

 Completely ductile fracture of polycrystals rupture

Very ductile metals like gold and lead behave like this

 Ductile fracture of usual polycrystals

Cup and cone fracture
Necking leads to triaxial state of stress
Cracks nucleate at brittle particles (void formation at the matrix-particle
interface)

Theoretical shear strength and cracks

Applied Force (F)

The theoretical shear strength (to break bonds and cause fracture)
of perfect crystals ~ (E / 6)
Strength of real materials ~ (E / 100 to E /1000)
Tiny cracks are responsible for this
Cracks play the same role in fracture (of weakening)
as dislocations play for deformation

Cohesive force

a0

cohesive
r

Characterization of Cracks

2a

Surface or interior
Crack length
Crack orientation with respect to geometry and loading
Crack tip radius

Crack growth and failure

Brittle fracture

Griffith
Energy based

Global
~Thermodynamic

Crack growth criteria

Stress based
Inglis

Local
~Kinetic

It should be energetically favorable

For growth of crack
Sufficient stress concentration should
exist at crack tip to break bonds

 Brittle fracture
cracks are sharp & no crack tip blunting
No energy spent in plastic deformation at the crack tip

Griffiths criterion for brittle crack propagation

When crack grows

Increase in surface energy 4 c

2

Reduction in elastic energy c 2

E
2

Change in energy U 4 c c 2
E

dU
0
dc
U 0

c*

c0
c * critical crack size
c

Inc

c1* c 2*

in
s
a
re

tre
s
g

ss

c0

c
Griffith

2 E
c
2
*

By some abracadabra

At constant stress
when c > c* by instantaneous
nucleation then specimen fails

2 E
f
c*

At constant c (= c* crack length)

when exceeds f then specimen
fails

2 E
c
2
*

To derive c* we differentiated w.r.t

c keeping constant
Fracture

c
0

stable

If a crack of length c* nucleates instantaneously then it can grow with

decreasing energy sees a energy downhill
On increasing stress the critical crack size decreases

Stress criterion for crack propagation

Cracks have a sharp tip and lead to stress concentration
0

max

c
0 1 2

max 2 0

0 applied stress
max stress at crack tip
crack tip radius

For a circular hole

c
max 0 1 2
c

max 3 0

=c

 cohesive

Work done by crack tip stresses to create a crack (/grow an existing crack)
= Energy of surfaces formed
After lot of approximations

Inglis

E
4a 0 c

a0 Interatomic spacing

Griffith versus Inglis

Inglis

Griffith

2 E
f
c*

E
4a 0 c

8a0
If
Griffith' s and Inglis criterion give the same result

If 3a 0 Griffith's and Inglis criterion give the same result

the 'Dieter' cross-over criterion

2 E
*
c
2f

E
4 a 0 2f

Rajesh Prasads Diagrams

Validity
region
for
Energy
criterion
Griffith

Validity domains for brittle fracture criteria

Validity
region
for
Stress
criterion
Inglis

Blunt
cracks

=c

Sharp
cracks

>c

a0
Sharpest possible crack

3a0

Approximate border for changeover of criterion

Safety regions applying Griffiths criterion alone

Unsafe

2 E
c
2f
*

c*
Safe

a0

Safety regions applying Ingliss criterion alone

Unsafe

Safe

a0

E
4 a 0 2f

Griffith unsafe
Inglis unsafe
unsafe

c*

Griffith safe
Inglis
unsafe
safe

Griffith safe
Inglis safe
safe

a0

3a0

Griffith unsafe
Inglis safe
safe

Griffith safe
Inglis
unsafe
unsafe

Ductile brittle transition

Deformation should be continuous across grain boundary in polycrystals
for their ductile behaviour 5 independent slip systems required
(absent in HCP and ionic materials)
FCC crystals remain ductile upto 0 K
Common BCC metals become brittle at low temperatures or at v.high
strain rates

Ductile y < f yields before fracture

Brittle

y > f

fractures before yielding

Griffith

2 E
f
c*

f , y

Inglis
f

Ductile

Brittle

T
DBTT

Brittle fractures before yield

Ductile yields before fracture

E
4a 0 c

f , y

f
y (BCC)
y (FCC)
T
DBTT

No DBTT

Griffith versus Hall-Petch

Hall-Petch
Griffith

2 E
f
c*

k
y i
d

2 E 1
k'
f

c
c*

Grain size dependence of DBTT

T1

T2

f , y

Large size

T1
T2

Finer size

d-
DBT
Finer grain size has higher DBTT better

T2

>

T1

Grain size dependence of DBTT- simplified version - f f(T)

T1

T2

f , y

T1
T2

Finer size

d-
DBT
Finer grain size has lower DBTT better

>

T1

Protection against brittle fracture

f done by chemical adsorbtion of molecules
2 E
f
on the crack surfaces
c*
Removal of surface cracks etching of glass
(followed by resin cover)
Introducing compressive stresses on the surface
Surface of molten glass solidified by cold air followed by
solidification of the bulk (tempered glass)
fracture strength can be increased 2-3 times
Ion exchange method smaller cations like Na+ in sodium
silicate glass are replaced by larger cations like K+ on the
surface of glass higher compressive stresses than tempering
Shot peening
Carburizing and Nitriding
Pre-stressed concrete

 Cracks developed during grinding of ceramics extend upto one grain

use fine grained ceramics (grain size ~ 0.1 m)
Avoid brittle continuous phase along the grain boundaries
path for intergranular fracture (e.g. iron sulphide film along
grain boundaries in steels Mn added to steel to form spherical
manganese sulphide)

Ductile fracture
Ductile fracture
Crack tip blunting by plastic deformation at tip
Energy spent in plastic deformation at the crack tip

Schematic

Sharp crack

r distance from the crack tip

Blunted crack

Orowans modification to the Griffiths equation to include plastic energy

2

Change in energy U 4 ( s p ) c c 2
E

2 ( s p ) E

c*
2 p E

c*

s ~ (1 2) J/m 2
p ~ (10 2 10 3 ) J/m 2