Unit-IV

Mechanical Failure
 MECHANICAL FAILURE
• Mechanical failures involve a complex interaction of load, time,
and environment (i.e. temperature and corrosion).

• Loads may be monotonic, steady, variable, uniaxial or multiaxial.

• The loading duration may range from centuries to years, as in steel

bridges, or to seconds or milliseconds, as in firing a handgun.

• Temperatures can vary from cryogenic with rocket motor fuels, to

over a thousand degrees Celsius, with gas turbine engines.
Temperatures may be isothermal or variable.
MECHANICAL FAILURE MODES OF METALS
• Excess deformation–elastic, or yielding (i.e. onset of plasticity)
 Excess deformation by yielding is probably the most
commonly studied failure mode. It is based upon the
maximum shear stress criterion or the octahedral shear
stress criterion.
 Failure by excess deformation may also be elastic such as
in rotating machinery where seizure can occur.
• Ductile fracture
 Ductile fracture involves significant plasticity.
 It is associated with high-energy absorption with fracture.
MECHANICAL FAILURE MODES OF METALS
Brittle fracture
• Brittle fracture contains little plasticity.
• It involves low energy absorption.

Impact or dynamic loading

• Can cause excess deformation or fracture.
• Impact or dynamic loading conditions that create high strain rates in metals tend
to cause lower toughness and ductility.

Creep
• can cause excess deformation or fracture.
• In metals it is most predominant at elevated temperatures.
• Example: Gas turbine engine blades due to centrifugal forces.
MECHANICAL FAILURE MODES OF METALS

Relaxation
• Relaxation is primarily responsible for loss of residual
stress and loss of external load that can occur in bolted
fasteners at elevated or ambient temperature.

Thermal shock
• Thermal shock tends to promote cracking and/or brittle
fracture.
• Example: quenching operation during heat treatment of
metals.
MECHANICAL FAILURE MODES OF METALS
Wear
• Can occur at any temperature and include many possible
failure mechanisms.
• Dominant in roller or taper bearings and in gear teeth
surfaces.
Buckling
• Buckling failure can be induced by external loading or by
thermal conditions.
• Can involve elastic or plastic instabilities.
• Most dominant in columns and thin sheets subjected to
compressive loads.
 FRACTURE
• Fracture: separation of a body into pieces due to stress, at temperatures below
the melting point.
Steps in fracture:
• crack formation
• crack propagation
• 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
 Brittle vs. Ductile Fracture
Ductile materials - extensive plastic
deformation and
energy absorption (“toughness”) before fracture
• Brittle materials - little plastic deformation
and low
energy absorption before fracture
 Brittle vs. Ductile Fracture

A. Very ductile, soft metals (e.g. Pb, Au) at

room
temperature, other metals, polymers, glasses at
high
temperature.
B. Moderately ductile fracture, typical for
ductile metals
C. Brittle fracture, cold metals, ceramics.

A B C
 Ductile Fracture (Dislocation Mediated)

(a) Necking Crack grows

(b) Formation of 90degree to applied
microvoids stress
(c) Coalescence of
microvoids to form a
crack
(d) Crack propagation by
shear deformation
(e) Fracture

45 degree -Maximum
shear stress Cup-and-cone
fracture
Brittle Fracture (Limited Dislocation Mobility)

• No appreciable plastic deformation

• Crack propagation is very fast
• Crack propagates nearly perpendicular to
the
direction of the applied stress
• Crack often propagates by cleavage -
breaking
of atomic bonds along specific crystallographic
planes (cleavage planes).
 Brittle Fracture
A. Transgranular fracture:
Fracture cracks pass through grains. Fracture
surface have faceted texture because of
different orientation of cleavage planes in grains.
B. Intergranular fracture:
Fracture crack propagation is along grain
boundaries (grain boundaries are weakened or
embrittled by impurities segregation etc.)
PRINCIPLES OF FRACTURE MECHANICS
• The measured fracture strengths for most materials are
significantly lower than those predicted by theoretical
calculations based on atomic bonding energies. This
discrepancy is explained by the presence of microscopic
flaws or cracks that always exist under normal conditions
at the surface and within the interior of a body of
material. These flaws are a detriment to the fracture
strength because an applied stress may be amplified or
concentrated at the tip, the magnitude of this
amplification depending on crack orientation and
geometry. This phenomenon is demonstrated in Figure a
 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

14
 Fracture Toughness Ranges
Graphite/
Metals/ Composites/
Ceramics/ Polymers
Alloys fibers
Semicond
100
C-C(|| fibers) 1
70 Steels
60 Ti alloys
50
40
Al alloys
30 Mg alloys Based on data in Table B.5,
K Ic (MPa · m0.5 )

Callister & Rethwisch 8e.

20 Composite reinforcement geometry is: f
Al/Al oxide(sf) 2 = fibers; sf = short fibers; w = whiskers;
Y2 O 3 /ZrO 2 (p) 4 p = particles. Addition data as noted
10 C/C( fibers) 1 (vol. fraction of reinforcement):
Al oxid/SiC(w) 3 1. (55vol%) ASM Handbook, Vol. 21, ASM Int.,
Diamond Si nitr/SiC(w) 5 Materials Park, OH (2001) p. 606.
7 Al oxid/ZrO 2 (p) 4 2. (55 vol%) Courtesy J. Cornie, MMC, Inc.,
6 Si carbide Glass/SiC(w) 6 Waltham, MA.
5 Al oxide PET 3. (30 vol%) P.F. Becher et al., Fracture
4 Si nitride Mechanics of Ceramics, Vol. 7, Plenum Press
PP (1986). pp. 61-73.
3 PVC 4. Courtesy CoorsTek, Golden, CO.
5. (30 vol%) S.T. Buljan et al., "Development of
Ceramic Matrix Composites for Application in
2 PC
Technology for Advanced Engines Program",
ORNL/Sub/85-22011/2, ORNL, 1992.
6. (20vol%) F.D. Gace et al., Ceram. Eng. Sci.
Proc., Vol. 7 (1986) pp. 978-82.
1 <100>
Si crystal PS Glass 6
<111>
0.7 Glass -soda
0.6 Polyester
Concrete 15
0.5
Baldwin Hydraulic Machine for Tension & Compression test
 Tensile Test

Click START
 Tensile Test

Elastic Region:
•This is the region where stress is proportional to
strain
 Tensile Test

Yielding Region:
•Upper yield point is where when there is no
application of any additional force the material will
elongate.
 Tensile Test

Lower yield point :

•This is the point where yielding will end .
 Tensile Test

Proportionality region:
•This is the region where stress is proportional to
strain.
 Tensile Test

Ultimate Tensile Strength:

•The maximum loading occurs in this region.
 Tensile Test

Necking:
•Fracture of material occurs by reduction of area.
 Failure Analysis

• The failure of specimen used in tensile testing for ductile material is by necking .

• The failure is a cup and cone failure

Impact Fracture Testing
(testing fracture characteristics under high
strain rates)

Izod Charpy

Energy ~ h - h’
 Material Properties
Charpy V-Notch Test:
- Charpy test is an impact toughness measurement test
because the energy is absorbed by the specimen very
rapidly.

- The potential energy of the pendulum before and after

impact can be calculated form the initial and final
location of the pendulum.

- The potential energy difference is the energy it took to

break the material absorbed during the impact.

- Purpose is to evaluate the impact toughness as a

function of temperature
 Material Properties
Charpy V-Notch Test:
Charpy Toughness(lb·in)

Ductile
Behavior

Brittle Transition
Behavior Temperature

Temperature (°F)
 Material Properties

Charpy V-Notch Test:

- Atlow temperature, where the material is brittle and
not strong, little energy is required to fracture the material.
- At high temperature, where the material is more ductile
and stronger, greater energy is required to fracture the
material
-The transition temperature is the boundary between brittle
and ductile behavior.
The transition temperature is an extremely important
parameter in selection of construction material.
Charpy V-Notch Test:

High Carbon Steel Stainless Steel

Example:
Mooring line length =100 ft
diameter=1.0 in
Axial loading applied=25,000 lb
Elongation due to loading=1.0 in mooring line

1) Find the normal stress.

F 25,000 lb loading
  2
 31,800 psi
A 0.785 in
A   r 2   (0.5in ) 2  0.785 in 2
2) Find the strain.

e 1in
   0.00083 (in / in )
Lo 100 ft  12 in
1 ft
Example:
- Salvage crane is lifting an object of 20,000 lb.
 y 60,000 psi
- Characteristics of the cable  UT 70,000 psi
diameter=1.0 in, length prior to lifting =50 ft
E  35  106 psi
1) Find the normal stress in the cable.
F 20,000 lb
  2
 25,478 psi
A 0.785 in
(A   r 2   (0.5 in ) 2  0.785 in 2 )
2) Find the strain.

 25,478 psi
  6
 0.000728 (in / in )
E 35  10 psi
3) Determine the cable stretch in inches.
e

Lo
12in
e    Lo  (0.000728 in / in )  (50 ft  )  0.44 in
1 ft