principles of yee Rhos Applied eT Ole-W Nate) \ 1) i REFERENCE BOOK Fy ITABLE OF CONTENTS METAL STRENGTH YS. LOAD i 1 2 STRESS RAISERS... 3 METAL LOAD VS. FRACTURE 4 FRACTURE TERMINOLOGY 6 FAST FRACTURES - RESULTS 6 DUCTILE FRACTURES 6 BRITTLE FRACTURES oo won 8 SLOW FRACTURES - ROOT CAUSES 10 FATIGUE FRACTURES .... 10 BEACHMARKS, 10 RATCHET MARKS 10 ROTATING BENDING FATIGUE - 12 CONCLUSION 14 FORWARD ‘The purpose of this bock is to explain and illustraie basic principles of fractures to aid in determining where ang why a crack started, Information In this book Is condensed from Caterpillar’s Applied Failure Analysis Seminar. Anyone wanting more information about applied failure analysis should contact their local Caterpillar dealer. (B carerpiitar 1988 Caterpar ineMETAL STRENGTH VS. LOADING eo eee Metal Strength - Temperature et Sor Gat parts are designed to carry loads without breaking. Parts may break because they become weakened by Overloading parts or damaging parts can cause them to excessive heat and are ro! abe to cary normal loading. fail. The part usually breaks at ne Weakest link in the Asmetal temperatures increase their strengthdecreases. chain’ Load - Life This connecting rod became the “weakest link in the Fatigue fractures should not oecur ifleading is below the chain’ dus to overheating by the bearing jalure. High __metal's endurance limit. i parts are loaded to about ¥2 tne temperatures weakened the tod and bolt, allowing it to endurance limit, the safety factor is 2. streich and fail Temper colors are the roadsions of hgh temperature.STRESS RAISERS Stress Raisers Stress raisers are physical regularities that concentrate applied loads resulting in increased stress at the irregularity. Round grooves may increase stresses by 1.5 times, while 2 crack can multipy stresses by a facior of 8 or more. In general, the sharper the irregularity, the higher the multiplying factor and the mors likely it that the part will develop a crack ieee eases Cerro Meanie) IVENClrlN Beier cae NoltT When goometrical stress raisers such as{llets, keyways, threads, ete., mustbe used, enginsers design enough strength into the parts to carry the increasedstress. fut unexpected stress raisers suchas mater al flaws, marutacturing defects, and physical abuse, can create stresses exceeding the endurance limit, The stress raiser Ste usually becomes the "weakest link in the chain’ by concentrating stresses enough to start @ crackMETAL LOADING VS. FRACTURE Metal Loading _ Metals can be laaded many difterent ways. Onemethod of ciassitying these loads uses the length of time it takes 10 apply the load. Impact loads are applied almost instantaneously. overloads are applied more slowly varying from a fraction ot 2 Secor to Several seconds, and cyclcicads are loads that are repeated over many hours, days, months, years, etc. Each ioad produces a specific kind of Tracture, Impact loads usually produce a brittle fracture, overloads usually procuce @ cuctile fracture, and cyclic loads usually produce a fatigue fracture. Sc Sie ie Factors Affecting Fracture Tiere eto A Cte oe ei Ductile fares facies orate Go Impact loads and overloads produce brittle or ductile Certain conditions such as hardness, temperature, etc. fractures with rough fracture feces, These fractures can _can aifect the type of fracture that occurs with impact start anywhere, not just at stress raisers, and are —_loacing or overloading, associated with results. Cyclic loads produce smoother fatigue fractures that start al stress raisers and are associated with root causes.FRACTURE TERMS Eee react Stross raisers have alroacy been axplainad as areas that concentrate stress, Crack initiation sites are locations where racks start to grow, while final fracture is the last pert of the matenal to fraciure. Fast cracks are either britleor ductile and are associates with results, while slow cracks ere fatigue cracks associated with root causes. This part started to crack ata stress raiser, the filet ground the outs de edge of the fracture. The initiation site isat the tower odgo whore a slow crack grow for some period of time. Shortly ater the slow crack reached the centerhole, afast crack grew rapidly though the remaining secton. The rough surface left by the fast ack is the final fracture.FAST FRACTURES - RESULTS DUCTILE FRACTURES ple tart Mckee ce es are BE) (e[ esi alm oy a -ten ronaeuiogt Overloads can create ductile fractures with @ rough Surface that is dark and woody. Shear lips usually form around the edge of the pert. The plastic flow that occurs changes the shape of the part from its new appearance. Representing a metal grain wth a card deck helps picture what occurs in the grain when it is overloaded. Just as cards slide past each other, olanes of unit cells slip and slide past each other to permanently change the gran's appearance Ductile Crack Growth (Shear) When overioaced, metal grains try tocarry the extra load by plastically deforming the metal grains. Layers of unit Cells slide past eacn other inan effort toadjust to theload, Eventually the grains pull apart after becoming severely deformed, Sa el eM eocaUCelLF In actuel perts, cracks form in the central area of the part as grains deform and pul anart. These tiny cracks join up to form a large crack that grows outward to the surface. The small amount of remaining metal shears off creating the shear ip,This bolt was overloaded in a tensile tester with a 6° wedge under the head. Readsigns of ductile fracture are plastic deformation and shear lip formation. This piece of connecting rod shank shows roadsigns of ductile fracture: dark, rough and woody fracture surface with shear lips and shiny areas of secondary impact damage. With magnification, mareroadsigns of ductile iracturecan be seen. Notice the rough woody fracture and a small shear lipat the upper edge. The large shear lipai the lower edge was caused by the 6° wedge under the belt head. = 7 High temperatures can weaken metals resulting in more than usual plastic deformation. Roadsigns of high ‘temperatures include excessive plastic tlow anc temper colorsBRITTLE FRACTURES Britle Fracture Characteristics Eee Fes Sees (Cieevess) Nig marr aan) Brittle fracture readsigns are rough surfaces withiittle or Brittle cracks are caused by sudden shock or impact no deformation that sparkle when rotated in the light. _lOads that break grains of crystals along planes o! unit Chevrons sometimes accur in softer materials forming cells leaving mirror like surtaces that retlectllight. creating arrows pointing back to the crack initiation site. the sparkly appearance. = When brittle fracture occurs, the deck soparates as pictured nere, leaving flat surfaces. No deformation ‘occurred due to the way the grain has split along the unit cells. A deck of cards can be used to represent a metal grain, Each card represents a plane of unit cells.This piece of track tensioner spring shows typical roadsigns of brittle fracture: chevrons point to the upper right indicating this Is the Crack initiation site, No plastic flow has cccurred =i This 9808 cam gear shows no signs of. plastic deformation indicating itis a brite fracture resulting from another part failing first. This DBL bull gear tooth shows typical orittle fracture: readsigns: chevrons indicate the crack started at the toot Foot located at the upper edge of tie picture. No plastic deformation is present ‘A closer view with good side lighting shows chevrons pointing to theroot of the gear toath as the initiation site of the britte fractureSLOW FRACTURES - ROOT CAUSES FATIGUE FRACTURES feel mare Meee aees Cracks that grow slowly over several hours. days. months, oryears are called fatigue oracks. Roadsignso! fatigue cracks are flat smooth fractures, beach marks, anda light color. Fatigue cracks are usually associated with root causes of failure. Fatigue Crack Growth eat cc a oat Iniation =o. \\ N\A) Seat oo Fracture ee ee accu) Beachmarks often radiate out away from fatigue crack initiation sites making the origin easy toidently. Beachmarks can be diffcultto see near the origin, but become more aistinctas they approach final iracture. Beachmarks are createdeach time the partexperiencesa significant inacichange suchas at startup. Ifapart operates under constant loading conditions Such as experienced by some generator sats, beachmerks may not form. If several cracks start growing at the ntation site, they form steps between them called ratchet marks. Ratchet marks incicate severe stresses were present. Final fracture 's ductile or brittle leaving a rough surface. 0“This shaft contains roadsigns of fatigue fracture: ratchet A closer view of the ratchet marks show several cracks Marks are present at the initiation site (bottom), grew inward at the same time indicating high stresses beachmarks radiate upwards to the final fracture, and were present ihare. chevrons indicate the final fracture is brittle Looking at the initiation site with good lighting ard The other fracture face shows the same details, The magnification, reveals no inclusiens, precracks, or other _latigue crack started ina fllet due to an apparent loading abnormal stress raisers. problem and not due to a flaw,ROTATING BENDING FATIGUE Rotating Bending Fatigue at Maree GRC Mo gela Mes Shafts thatrotate with bencing loads ang sulter fatique tractures can have a different beachmark pattern I bencing joade aro low, Seachmarks start growing outward from the origin, are close together, and are very cificut 10 see. They get farther aparl, Qecome more distinct and curve in around the last material to break, the final fracture. The curve of the beachmarks changes because highe: loads are presentat the surfaoe than Insde the shaft. Thus, beachmarks curve nto surround the final fracture wihich is often mistaken for a large material flaw 2This hydraulic pump shait rotates under bending loads Closer examination of the fracture shows what appears Greated by the gear train. {nas fractured underneath me {0 be beachmarks racieting away from a large material roller bearing, “flaw beneath the shaft's surface. More carefulexaminaticn shows the“flaw' to be the final _ Placing the shaft back togather reveals the fatigue crack fracture surrounded by widely spaced, distinct started in @ snap ring groove which acted as a siress beachmarks. At the initiation site at the bottom, the raiser and initiated the crack beachmarks are close together ard ciificult to seeCONCLUSION Lic Ma MEU ol ee ese (Once failed parts have deen obtained anc properly cleaned, roadsigns should be used to determine if the fractures are fest fractures associated with results or slow fractures associatec with root causes. II slow frectures are found, we should trace the beachmarks back to the initiation site and look for a stress raiser that caused the crack. Thestress raiser may be anick ordent irom customer abuse, a material or process flaw, or a geometrical size change. When no abnormal stress raiser is ‘ound the part could have been overloaded Identify Cause of Failure bn Sede Pes sraet sey yO) =a rea uo) Facts obtained from fractures can be used with other iniormation gathered on heat. load, application, operation and maintenance to arrive at a most probable root cause of failure. All the facts should be explainable using this root cause Also, the doublecheck question should be asked, “Is there any way the other party couldniave caused this probiem?*just to insure nothing is deing overlooked and to avoid falling into a preconceived idea