Mechanical Failure

ISSUES TO ADDRESS... Chapter reading 8

• How do cracks that lead to failure form?
• How is fracture resistance quantified? How do the
fracture
resistances of the different material classes compare?
• How do we estimate the stress to fracture?
• How do loading rate, loading history, and temperature
affect the failure behavior of materials?

Ship-cyclic loading Computer chip-cyclic Hip implant-cyclic

from waves. thermal loading. loading from walking.

11
 Mechanical Failure
Why study failure?

Design of a component or structure: Minimize failure possibility

It can be accomplished by understanding the mechanics of

failure
modes and applying appropriate design principles.
Failure cost
1. Human life 2. Economic loss 3.Unavailability of service

Failure causes:
1. Improper material selection 2. Inadequate design 3. Processing

Regular inspection, repair and replacement critical to safe design

2
 Fracture
Fracture is the separation of a body into two or
more
pieces in response to an imposed stress

Steps in Fracture:
 Crack formation
 Crack propagation

3
 Fracture Modes
•Depending on the ability of material to undergo plastic deformation
before the fracture two fracture modes can be defined - ductile or brittle.
•Ductile fracture - most metals (not too cold):
Extensive plastic deformation ahead of crack
 Crack is “stable”: resists further extension
• unless applied stress is increased

•Brittle fracture - ceramics, ice, cold metals:

 Relatively little plastic deformation
Crack is “unstable”: propagates rapidly without
increase in applied stress
Ductile fracture is preferred in most applications
4
 Ductile vs Brittle Failure
• Classification: Fracture Very Moderately
Brittle
behavior: Ductile Ductile

Adapted from Fig. 10.1,

Callister & Rethwisch 9e.

%AR or %EL Large Moderate Small

• Ductile fracture is Ductile: Brittle:

usually more desirable Warning before No
than brittle fracture! fracture warning

5
 Ductile
• Evolution to failure:
Fracture

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

Cup and cone
(a) Necking
fracture
(b) Formation of microvoids
(c) Coalescence of microvoids to form a
crack
(d) Crack propagation by shear deformation
(e) Fracture

6
 Ductile Vs Brittle Fracture
ductile fracture brittle fracture

(Cup-and-cone fracture in Al) Brittle fracture in a mild

steel

7
 Ductile Fracture

(a) SEM image showing spherical dimples resulting from a

uniaxial tensile load representing microvoids. (b) SEM image of
parabolic dimples from shear loading.
8
 Moderately Ductile Failure
• Failure Stages:
void void growth shearing
necking fracture
nucleation and coalescence at surface
σ

• Resulting 50
50mm
mm
fracture
surfaces
(steel)
100 mm
particles From V.J. Colangelo and F.A. Heiser, Fracture surface of tire cord wire loaded in
serve as void Analysis of Metallurgical Failures (2nd
ed.), Fig. 11.28, p. 294, John Wiley
tension. Courtesy of F. Roehrig, CC
Technologies, Dublin, OH. Used with
nucleation and Sons, Inc., 1987. (Orig. source: permission.
P. Thornton, J. Mater. Sci., Vol. 6,
sites. 1971, pp. 347-56.)
9
 Brittle Fracture
Arrows indicate point at failure origination

Distinctive pattern on the fracture surface: V-shaped

“chevron”
markings point to the failure origin. 10
 Brittle Fracture
Lines or ridges that radiate from the origin of
the crack in a fanlike pattern

MSE-211-Engineering Materials 10
 Transgranular fracture
• Fracture cracks pass through grains.

MSE-211-Engineering Materials 12
 Intergranular fracture
• Fracture crack propagation is along grain
boundaries (grain boundaries are weakened or
embrittled by impurities segregation etc.)

13
 Example: Pipe Failures
• Ductile failure:
-- one piece
-- large deformation

• Brittle failure:
-- many pieces
-- small deformations

Figures from V.J. Colangelo and F.A. Heiser,

Analysis of Metallurgical Failures (2nd ed.), Fig.
4.1(a) and (b), p. 66 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,
1987. Used with permission.

14
 Fracture Mechanics

Studies the relationships between:

• material properties
• stress level
• crack producing flaws
• crack propagation mechanisms

15
 Stress Concentration
Measured fracture strength is much lower than predicted by calculations
based on atomic bond energies. This discrepancy is explained by the
presence of flaws or cracks in the materials.

The flaws act as stress concentrators or stress raisers,

amplifying the stress at a given point.

The magnitude of amplification depends on crack

geometry and orientation.

16
Stress Concentration

17
 Flaws are Stress Concentrators!
If the crack is similar to an elliptical hole through
plate, and is oriented perpendicular to applied
stress, the maximum stress, at crack tip

• Griffith Crack

t where
t = radius of curvature
σo = applied stress
σm = stress at crack tip
• Kt= stress concentration factor
• a = length of surface crack or ½ length of
Fig. 10.8(a), Callister & Rethwisch 9e.
internal crack 18
 Engineering Fracture Design
σ•0 Avoid sharp corners! σmax
Stress Conc. Factor, K t = σ
0
w
σmax 2.5

h
r,
fillet 2.0 increasing w/h
radius

Adapted from Fig.

1.5
8.2W(c), Callister 6e.
(Fig. 8.2W(c) is from G.H.
Neugebauer, Prod. Eng. (NY),

r/h
Vol. 14, pp. 82-87 1943.)
1.0
0 0.5 1.0
sharper fillet radius

19
 Crack Propagation
Cracks having sharp tips propagate easier than cracks having blunt tips
• A plastic material deforms at a crack tip, which “blunts” the crack.
deformed
region
brittle

ductile

Energy balance on the crack

• Elastic strain energy-
• energy stored in material as it is elastically deformed
• this energy is released when the crack propagates
• creation of new surfaces requires energy

20
 Stress Concentration
Crack propagation

Critical stress for crack propagation

γs = specific surface energy

When the tensile stress at the tip of crack exceeds the critical stress value
the crack propagates and results in fracture.

MSE-211-Engineering Materials 21
EXAMPLE PROBLEM 8.1 Page 244
A relatively large plate of a glass is subjected to a tensile stress of 40
MPa. If the specific surface energy and modulus of elasticity for this
glass are 0.3 J/m2 and 69 GPa, respectively, determine the maximum
length of a surface flaw that is possible without fracture.

𝐸 = 69 𝐺𝑃𝑎 𝛾𝑠 =0.3 J/m2

𝜎 = 40 𝑀𝑃𝑎

Rearranging the equation

2𝐸𝛾𝑠 𝑎 = 8.2 * 10-6 m

𝑎=
𝜋𝜎 2
22
 Fracture Toughness
• Fracture toughness measures a material’s resistance
to fracture when a crack is present.
• It is an indication of the amount of stress required to
propagate a preexisting flaw.

𝐾𝑐 = 𝜎𝑐 𝜋𝑎
𝐾𝑐 = Fracture
toughness

23
 Fracture Toughness
𝑲𝒄 is a material property depends on temperature, strain
rate
and microstructure.

 The magnitude of Kc reduce with increasing strain rate and

decreasing temperature.

 Kc normally increases with reduction in grain size as

composition and other microstructural variables are
maintained constant.

24
 Impact Fracture
Testing
Testing fracture characteristics under high strain rates

Two standard tests, the Charpy and Izod, measure the

impact energy (the energy required to fracture a test piece
under an impact load), also called the notch toughness

25
 Impact Fracture
Testing
(Charpy)

Izod

final height initial height

26
 Ductile-to- brittle transition
As temperature decreases a ductile material can
become brittle - ductile-to-brittle transition.

The ductile-to-brittle transition can be measured by impact testing:

the impact energy needed for fracture drops suddenly over a
relatively narrow temperature range – temperature of the ductile-to-
brittle transition.
The ductile to-brittle transition is related to the temperature
dependence of the measured impact energy absorption

27
 • Ductile-to-Brittle Transition Temperature (DBTT)...

Low strength (FCC and HCP) metals (e.g., Cu, Ni)

Impact Energy

Low strength steels(BCC)

polymers
Brittle More Ductile

High strength materials

Temperature Adapted from Fig. 8.15,

Callister & Rethwisch 8e.
Ductile-to-brittle
transition temperature

MSE-211-Engineering Materials 29 28
 Design Strategy:
Stay Above The DBTT!
• Pre-WWII: The • WWII: Liberty
Titanic ships

• Problem: Steels were used having DBTT’s just below room

temperature.

29
 Fatigue
• Fatigue = failure under applied cyclic stress.

Adapted from Fig. 10.18(a),

Callister & Rethwisch 9e.

σ
σmax
• Stress varies with time S. S
σm
-- key parameters are S, σm, and
σmin time
cycling frequency
• Key points: Fatigue...
--can cause part failure, even though σmax < σy.
--responsible for ~ 90% of mechanical engineering failures.

30
Fatigue
Fatigue
Failure under fluctuating / cyclic stresses
e.g., bridges, aircraft, machine components,
automobiles,etc..

• Stress varies with time. 


max S

 m time
min

MSE-211-Engineering Materials 31
 Fatigue
Fatigue failure can occur at loads considerably lower
than tensile or yield strengths of material under a
static load.

Estimated to causes 90% of all failures of metallic

structures

Fatigue failure is brittle-like (relatively little plastic

deformation) - even in normally ductile materials.
Thus sudden and catastrophic!
Fatigue failure proceeds in three distinct stages: crack
initiation in the areas of stress concentration (near stress
raisers), incremental crack propagation, final
catastrophic failure. MSE-211-Engineering Materials 32
 Fatigue
CYCLIC STRESSES

Mean stress (𝜎𝑚 )

33
34
 Fatigue
S — N curves
(stress — number of cycles to failure)

Fatigue properties of a material (S-N curves) are tested

in
rotating-bending tests in fatigue testing apparatus

Result is commonly plotted as S (stress) vs. N (number of

cycles to failure)

35
 S — N curves

Fatigue limit (endurance limit) occurs for some materials

(e.g. some Fe and Ti alloys). In this case, the S—N curve
becomes horizontal at large N, limiting stress level. The
fatigue limit is a maximum stress amplitude below which the
material never fails, no matter how large the number of cycles
is.
For many steels,
fatigue limits
range between
35% and 60%
of the tensile
strength.

36
 S — N curves

In most non ferrous alloys(e.g., Aluminum,

Copper, Magnesium) S decreases continuously with
N. In this cases the fatigue properties are described
by

Fatigue strength: stress at which

fracture occurs after a
specified number of cycles
(e.g. 107)
Fatigue life: Number of cycles
to fail at a specified stress
level

37
40
 Fatigue
Fracture surface
characteristics Beach marks
and striations

39
 Creep
Creep is a time-dependent and permanent deformation
of materials when subjected to a constant load or stress.

For metals it becomes important at a high

temperature (> 0.4 Tm). Examples: turbine blades,
steam generators, high pressure steam lines.

Polymers are specially sensitive to creep.

For details read the book pages 265-267

40
Stages of Creep

41
 Creep
Sample deformation at a constant stress (σ) vs. time
σ
σ,e

0 t

Primary Creep: slope (creep rate)

decreases with time.
Secondary Creep: steady-state
i.e., constant slope (Δe /Δt).
Adapted from
Fig. 10.29, Callister &
Tertiary Creep: slope (creep rate) Rethwisch 9e.
increases with time, i.e. acceleration of rate. 42
 Stages of Creep
1.Instantaneous deformation, mainly elastic.

2.Primary/transient creep. Slope of strain vs. time

decreases with time: strain-hardening

3.Secondary/steady-state creep. Rate of straining is

Constant

4.Tertiary. Rapidly accelerating strain rate up to

failure:
formation of internal cracks, voids, grain
boundary
separation, necking, etc.
43
 Parameters of creep behavior
The stage of secondary/steady-state creep is of longest
. ∆𝜺
duration and the steady-state creep rate 𝜺 ࢚∆ = ࢙ is
most important parameter of the creep behavior in long-
the
life applications e.g. nuclear power plant component.

Another parameter, especially important in short-life

creep situations, is time to rupture, or the rupture
lifetime, tr.. e.g., turbine blades in military aircraft
and rocket motor nozzles, etc….

MSE-211-Engineering Materials 44
Creep: stress and temperature effects

MSE-211-Engineering Materials 45
 Creep: Temperature Dependence
• Occurs at elevated temperature, T > 0.4 Tm (in K)

tertiary

primary
secondary

elastic

Figs. 10.30, Callister & 46

Rethwisch 9e.