INTRODUTION

Steel is a ductile material . Does this

mean steel always fail by ductile failure  
• What is dustile failure §
• Whats is brittle failure §
• Which one is most likely to happen in
steel structures  §
DEFINITION  • When materials break, or fracture, they do so in one
of two modes – ductile or brittle. For ductile
fracture, picture chewing gum. After the gum has
been chewed some, it can be stretched quite a bit
before breaking and the cross section gets very thin.
For brittle fracture, picture window glass. When it
gets stressed, it shatters without stretching at all,
and the thickness doesn’t change much either. Most
materials exhibit ductile or brittle behavior under
different conditions. For instance, consider the
chewing gum, but imagine it has been frozen in
liquid nitrogen. In that cold state, it shatters just like
glass when struck by a hammer. Reconsider the
glass, when it is heated by a glassblower, it
stretches and gets thinner just like the chewing
gum!
STEEL AND Steel is one of the famous construction materials close
DUCTILE to concrete in the construction business. The high
FAILURE 
strength and flexibility are the essential properties of
steel that make its place in practically all the renowned
high rises far and wide.
Steel structures are created by singular steel individuals,
welded or darted together to get a last unit. The slim
individuals and joints are the basic focuses on a steel
structure that must be intended for basic worries with
most extreme consideration. Any variety or error can
bring about auxiliary failures of the steel structure,
which changes with the sort of burden acting and the
kind of structure.
Mechanical failure arises from application of external forces that cause the steel
structure to crack or break when the yield strength of the material is exceeded.
The applied force may be tensile in nature, compressive, torsional or impact –
with the force being applied over short or long time spans, and at varying
temperatures and/or humidity conditions., general yielding or ductile overload,
and is the failure mode that occurs when a material is simply loaded to beyond its
ultimate tensile strength. Purely ductile failures tend to be rare in service, as the
first principle of structural design is to ensure that a component does not exceed
its yield strength. This is usually guaranteed by applying a factor of safety on the
maximum allowable loading, meaning that the highest stresses should be well
below yield at all times. If a purely ductile failure does occur, it is usually
because of an error in design, or because, in practice, the actual loading is higher
than anticipated (such as excessively high wind loading during a hurricane or
load redistribution after failure of another member in the structure).
STEEL AND • Brittle failure is the brisk propagation of cracks through
BRITTLE
FRACTURES a material. This typically occurs so quickly that no
plastic deformation takes place before fracture occurs.
In structure failures, brittle failure usually causes a
failure in structural integrity. Because of the rapid nature
of this failure, it often leads to catastrophic failure as
there is little indication between the start of failure and
full rupture.Brittle fracture is caused by impurities in a
material, whether that is due to manufacturing
inconsistencies, small notches in design, or fractures
that occur during service. These small impurities cause a
small crack which then initiates the rapid propagation of
other cracks throughout the material.
MANY NON-METAL CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS ARE BRITTLE, OR LACKING DUCTILITY, AND AS SUCH ARE
SUBJECT TO BRITTLE FRACTURE. GLASS AT NORMAL OPERATING TEMPERATURES IS PARTICULARLY SUBJECT TO
BRITTLE FAILURE. METALS WHICH UNDERGO BRITTLE FRACTURE ARE USUALLY HIGH-STRENGTH OR STIFFENED IN
SOME WAY. THIS INCREASED STIFFNESS CAUSES A DECREASE IN DUCTILITY WHICH PREVENTS PLASTIC
DEFORMATION FROM OCCURRING BEFORE FRACTURE. YET IF THERE IS A STRESS CONCENTRATION, A TENSILE
STRESS, AND RELATIVELY LOW TEMPERATURE, BRITTLE FRACTURE CAN OCCUR IN NORMALLY DUCTILE
MATERIALS AS WELL.

IN BUILDINGS, REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS MUST BE DESIGNED SUCH AS TO AVOID BRITTLE FRACTURE

WHICH OCCURS DUE TO OVER-REINFORCING. WHEN A BEAM IS OVER REINFORCED, THE CONCRETE CRUSHES IN
COMPRESSION BEFORE THE STEEL REACHES ITS FULL YIELD POINT. THIS IS AN UNDESIRABLE MODE OF FAILURE
(AS OPPOSED TO A GRADUAL DUCTILE FAILURE DUE TO UNDER-REINFORCING) BECAUSE RUPTURE OCCURS
WITHOUT WARNING.
    CONCLUSION              

Generally steel is the ductile material, but in some

cases brittle fracture are occurred in ductile
materials. In case of brittle fracture, it occurred very
instantaneously without any warning and plastic
deformation. Small microvoids crack in the material
are cuase brittle fracture. There were two condition
for brittle fracture, one is small microvoids and
another one is crack propogation. Mainly the
formation of crack is occurred perpendicular to the
direction of tensile load. When brittle fracture occur
in steel cause immediat failure.