Fracture

Mechanics
Sta%c failure theory discussed in the previous sec%on assumed that the
material is perfectly homogeneous and isotropic but this is not true for
real materials. All materials are considered to contain voids, inclusions or
micro cracks.

Stress-concentra%on factors provides an indica%on of the average load required on a

part for the onset of plas%c deforma%on, or yielding; these factors are also useful for
analysis of the loads on a part that will cause fa%gue fracture.

However, stress-concentra%on factors are limited to structures for which all
dimensions are precisely known, par%cularly the radius of curvature in regions of
high stress concentra%on. When there exists a crack, flaw, inclusion, or defect of
unknown small radius in a part, the elas%c stress-concentra%on factor approaches
infinity as the root radius approaches zero, thus rendering the stress-concentra%on
factor approach useless.

Stress-concentra%on factors does not lead to criteria useful for design when
very sharp cracks are present

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

The presence of the sharp crack creates stress concentra%on that
approach infinity for the sharp creak

When c approaches zero, the stress concentra%on and thus stress approaches infinite.
Since no material can sustain such high stress, local yielding ( for duc%le materials),
local micro fracture ( for briIle materials) will occur at the crack %p. If crack are high
enough at the %p of the crack of sufficient size, a sudden, briIle like failure can results
even in duc%le materials under sta%c load

According to Griffith theory a crack growth occurs when the energy release rate from applied
loading is greater than the rate of energy for crack growth. Crack growth can be stable or unstable.

Unstable crack growth the rate of change of the energy release rate rela%ve to the crack length is
equal to or greater than the rate of change of the crack growth rate of energy. Griffith’s
experimental work was restricted to briIle materials, namely glass. However, for duc%le materials,
the energy needed to perform plas%c work at the crack %p is found to be much more crucial than
surface energy.

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

 Modes of crack displacement

Three dis%nct modes of crack propaga%on exist

A tensile stress field gives rise to mode I, the opening crack
propaga0on mode. This mode is the most common in
prac%ce.

Mode II is the sliding mode, is due to in-plane shear.

Mode III is the tearing mode, which arises from out-of-plane
shear, Combina0ons of these modes can also occur.

Since mode I is the most common and important mode, the
remainder of this sec%on will consider only this mode.

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

 Consider a mode I crack of length 2a in the infinite plate. By using
complex stress func%ons, it has been shown that the stress field on
a dx dy element in the vicinity of the crack %p is given by

The stress σy near the 0p, with θ = 0, is

As with the ellip%cal crack, we see that σy |θ =0 →∞ as r →0

It is common prac%ce to define a factor KI called the stress intensity factor given by

The stress intensity factor is not to be confused with the sta0c stress concentra5on factors Kt

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

 Von Mises stress as a
func%on of angle around
crack %p
Von Mises Stress (σ’)

For KI= 1, r = 10-5

Maximum occurs at 710 Von Mises stress as a

func%on of distance
around crack %p (θ=71)

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

 The high stresses near the crack %p cause local yielding and
create a plas%c zone of radius ry. For any radius r and angle θ,
the stress state in this plas%c zone at the crack %p is directly
propor%onal to the stress intensity factor

σnom is the Nominal stress in absence of crack

If the crack width is not small in comparison with plate width and geometry of the part is
more complicated. The stress intensity factor is a func%on of geometry, size and shape of
the crack, and the type of loading. For various load and geometric configura%ons,

where β is the stress intensity modifica5on factor.

Tables for β are available in the literature for basic
configura%ons.

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar
 Fracture Toughness
When the magnitude of the mode I stress intensity factor reaches a cri%cal value, K c
crack propaga0on ini0ates. The cri0cal stress intensity factor Kc is a material property
that depends on the material, crack mode, processing of the material, temperature,
loading rate, and the state of stress at the crack site. The cri%cal stress intensity factor
Kc is also called the fracture toughness of the material.

Fracture toughness KI c for engineering metals lies in the range 20 ≤ Kc ≤ 200 MPa · √m; for
engineering polymers and ceramics, 1 ≤ Kc ≤ 5 MPa · √m. For a 4340 steel,

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

 Fa9gue Failure from Variable Loading

In materials science, fa9gue is the progressive and localized structural damage that
occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loading.

The nominal maximum stress values are less than the ul%mate tensile stress limit,
and may be below the yield stress limit of the material.

Fa%gue occurs when a material is subjected to repeated loading and unloading. If
the loads are above a certain threshold, microscopic cracks will begin to form at the
surface. Eventually a crack will reach a cri%cal size, and the structure will suddenly
fracture.

The shape of the structure will significantly affect the fa%gue life; square holes or
sharp corners will lead to elevated local stresses where fa%gue cracks can ini%ate.
Round holes and smooth transi%ons or fillets are therefore important to increase
the fa%gue strength of the structure.

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar
Indian Institute of Technology Ropar
Stress cycle

Time Varying Stress

A typical stress cycle is shown in figure, where the maximum, minimum, mean and
variable stresses are indicated. The mean and variable stresses are given by

A typical stress cycle showing

maximum, mean and variable
stresses

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

 Fa%gue
•  Fa%gue strength (FS) and endurance limit (EL)
•  Es%ma%ng FS and EL
•  Modifying factors

•  Thus far we’ve studied sta%c failure of machine elements

•  The second major class of component failure is due to dynamic loading
–  Variable stresses
–  Repeated stresses
–  Alterna%ng stresses
–  Fluctua%ng stresses
•  The ul%mate strength of a material (Su) is the maximum stress a material can
sustain before failure assuming the load is applied only once and held
•  A material can also fail by being loaded repeatedly to a stress level that is LESS
than Su
–  Fa%gue failure

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

 Mechanism of Fa9gue Failure
Fa%gue failure always begin at a crack. Fa%gue crack
generally start at a notch or at stress concentra%on.

There are three stages of the fa%gue failure
1.  Crack Ini%a%on
2.  Crack Propaga%on
3.  Sudden fracture due to unstable crack growth

1.  Crack Ini9a9on

At microscopic level most of the materials have some

inclusion or notches, here they are not homogeneous and
isotropic. If this material is undergoing 9me varying
stresses, the stress at the notches oscillate hence local
yielding may occurs. This yielding create localized plas9c
zone and create slip bands (regions of intense
deforma9on due to shear mo9on). As the stress is cyclic
addi9onal slip bands occur and add together into a
microscopic crack. Even in absence of the notch this
mechanism s%ll operate as long as yield stress exceed
some where in the material.

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

Crack Propaga9on

Once the micro crack is established, a plas9c zone develops at the crack 9p. Each 9me a
fluctua9ng tensile stress opens the crack. When the stress cycle is a compressive cycle,
the crack closes. This process con%nue as long as the local stress is cycling from below
the tensile yield to above the tensile yield at the crack %p. The crack growth is due to
tensile stress and crack grows along planes normal to the maximum tensile stress. Hence
fa%gue failure is considered due to the tensile stress, even though it is ini%ated by shear
stress. Cyclic stress that are always compressive will not cause crack growth.

Generally crack propaga%on growth rate is very small on the order of 10-8 to 10-4 per
cycle.

Fracture

The crack will con%nue to grow as long as cyclical tensile stress of sufficient magnitude
is present. At some point the crack size become large enough to raise the stress
intensity factor K at the crack 9p to the level of material fracture toughness Kc and
sudden failure occur.

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar
 Design for dynamic loading
Condi%ons oken arise in machines and mechanisms when stresses fluctuate between
a upper and a lower limit. The fiber on the surface of a rota%ng shak subjected to a
bending load, undergoes both tension and compression for each revolu%on of the
shak.

Any fiber on the shak is therefore subjected to fluctua%ng stresses. Machine elements
subjected to fluctua%ng stresses usually fail at stress levels much below their ul%mate
strength and in many cases below the yield point of the material too. These failures
occur due to very large number of stress cycle and are known as fa%gue failure. These
failures usually begin with a small crack which may develop at the points of
discon%nuity, an exis%ng subsurface crack or surface faults. Once a crack is developed
it propagates with the increase in stress cycle finally leading to failure of the
component by fracture.

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

Endurance limit

shows the rota%ng beam arrangement along with the specimen

Beam specimen

Loading arrangement
The loading is such that there is a constant
bending moment over the specimen length and
the bending stress is greatest at the center where
the sec%on is smallest. The arrangement gives
pure bending and avoids transverse shear since
bending moment is constant over the length.
Large number of tests with varying bending loads
are carried out to find the number of cycles to
fail. A typical plot of reversed stress (S) against
number of cycles to fail (N) is shown in figure

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

The strength-life (S-N) diagram provides the fa0gue strength Sf versus cycle life N of a material.
The results are generated from tests using a simple loading of standard laboratory controlled
specimens. The loading oken is that of sinusoidally reversing pure bending. The laboratory-
controlled specimens are polished without geometric stress concentra%on at the region of
minimum area. For steel and iron, the S-N diagram becomes horizontal at some point. The
strength at this point is called the endurance limit Sʹe and occurs somewhere between 106 and
107 cycles. The prime mark on Sʹe refers to the endurance limit of the controlled laboratory
specimen. For nonferrous materials that do not exhibit an endurance limit, a fa0gue strength at
a specific number of cycles, Sʹf , may be given, where again, the prime denotes the fa%gue
strength of the laboratory-controlled specimen.

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

Aluminium Alloy
Indian Institute of Technology Ropar