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Materials & NDE Foundation Course
Introduction to
Fracture

22 June 2009 to 26 June 2009
Page 2 of 35
FRACTURE LECTURE NOTES
Index
1. Introduction
1.1 Overview............................................................................................... 3
1.2 Control of Fracture............................................................................... 6
2. Mechanisms of Fracture
2.1 Stress Concentrations........................................................................... 7
2.2 Fracture Mechanisms
2.2.1 Brittle Fracture........................................................................8
2.2.2 Ductile Failure........................................................................ 10
2.3 Ductile to Brittle Transition.................................................................11
2.4 Structural Thickness and Constraint..................................................12
3. Toughness Testing
3.1 The Charpy Test
3.1.1 Introduction............................................................................13
3.1.2 Test Procedure....................................................................... 15
3.2 Fracture Toughness Testing................................................................ 17
3.3 Crack Arrest Tests.................................................................................19
4. Material Effects
4.1 Definition of the Ductile to Brittle Transition Temperature...........21
4.2 Chemical Composition.........................................................................22
4.3 Microstructure Effects.......................................................................... 23
4.4 Strain Rate..............................................................................................24
4.5 Service Embrittlement..........................................................................24
5. Toughness Of LR Materials
5.1 Normal Strength Ship Steels............................................................... 25
5.2 Higher Strength Ship Steels.................................................................25
6. Material Selection For Fracture Control
6.1 General LR Rule Requirements for Ships..........................................27
6.2 Ice-breaking Ships.................................................................................28
6.3 Liquefied Gas Ships..............................................................................29
7. Fracture Mechanics
7.1 Introduction...........................................................................................31
7.2 Design against Failure..........................................................................33
8. Summary.........................................................................................................35
Page 3 of 35
1. Introduction
1.1 Overview
Fracture is defined as the separation of a solid body into two or more parts
under the action of stress. This process consists of two parts: crack formation
(initiation) and crack growth. Obviously for marine applications, it is
important to design against fracture as even a localised structural failure can
have catastrophic consequences for the integrity of a vessel. Fracture can
occur rapidly under constant load, but slow crack growth can occur under the
influences of alternating load (fatigue) or chemical attack (stress corrosion
cracking). In this paper, we shall consider the rapid fracture of metals under
constant load.
There are two general types (modes) of fracture: brittle and ductile.
Brittle fracture involves hardly any deformation, and often occurs in materials
subjected to applied stresses far below the yield strength. The crack growth
can be very rapid (up to 1km/ s) and unstable, so failure is often catastrophic
and without warning. Ferritic steel structures are particularly susceptible to
brittle fracture at low temperatures.
Brittle fracture has only become a major problem this century with the
introduction of fusion-welded structures. With old-style riveted
constructions, a crack in a plate would usually be arrested at the plate edge.
However, with an all-welded fabrication, the crack can propagate through the
entire structure. In a ship for example, this can result in the vessel breaking in
two. The classic examples of this are the Liberty ships, built in the USA during
World War II (Figure 1). These failures and others led to the introduction of
toughness requirements for ship steels into LR Rules (1958).
Figure 1 - Brittle fracture of the Liberty Ship USS Schenectady (1943)
Page 4 of 35
However, there have been more recent examples. In 1979, the bulk carrier MV
Kurdistan broke in two (Figure 2). Here the crack was shown to have started
at a defective butt weld in the ground bar attaching the bilge keel to the side
shell. The crack then grew into the bilge keel itself, through the side shell, and
propagated round the entire vessel. Since then LR Rules have been introduced
prohibiting the bilge keel from being directly welded to the side shell and
introducing rat holes into bilge keel butt welds, to prevent any cracks from
propagating into the main structure (LR Rules Part 3 Chapter 10 Section 5.6).
Figure 2 - Fracture initiation of Kurdistan failure
crack propagated
via intermittent
weld into bulb bar
crack initiated at various sites
in ground bar
weld
ground bar
butt weld
crack propagated
via ground bar to
shell weld into
bilge strake and
shell plate
Page 5 of 35
Catastrophic brittle fractures have also occurred in bridges, pipelines,
pressure vessels (Figure 3) and electrical turbo generators.
Figure 3 - Brittle fracture of a pressure vessel, initiated from a defective weld (1958)
Ductile fracture is always accompanied by a large amount of (plastic)
deformation. Failure, which occurs by slow and stable crack growth, will only
occur when the yield stress of the material is exceeded locally. Under normal
circumstances, structural metals are designed to fail by ductile mode, but this
will only happen if the structure is overloaded (Figure 4).
Figure 4 - Ductile fracture following explosion of a fuel pipeline (1997)
Page 6 of 35
1.2 Control Of Fracture
The common feature of all of these failures is the total loss of the structure,
which inevitably has significant safety and economic consequences.
There are generally common features between incidents of brittle fracture,
typified by the Liberty ship failures:
cracks or notches in the structure (e.g. weld defects)
high local tensile stress (e.g. hatch cover corners)
low ambient temperature (e.g. Arctic waters)
Therefore, to combat the incidence of brittle fracture, the following
precautionary measures can be taken:
avoid excessive tensile stress by attention to the construction details
use qualified welding procedures and carry out NDE on welds to
ensure that they do not contain significant defects.
select a steel that will not behave in a brittle manner at the service
temperature.
It was the need for adequate resistance to cracking, defined as the toughness
of steel, that was not properly understood at the time of construction of the
Liberty ships. As a direct result of these failures, a number of toughness tests
were developed to ensure that ship steels had adequate resistance to fracture.
It is important to note that as cracks in service developed from cracks or
notches, the laboratory test testpieces had to contain similar discontinuities.
Page 7 of 35
2. Mechanisms Of Fracture
In order to understand how the fracture of a structure can be prevented, it is
useful to briefly consider the mechanisms of the fracture process.
2.1 Stress Concentrations
A critical factor in determining whether or not fracture will occur is the level
of tensile stress within the structure. However, the stress level is not constant
throughout a structure. Geometrical discontinuities, such as holes and
notches, produce a local stress concentration that can far exceed the general
stress level applied. This concentration tends to increase with decreasing
radius of the discontinuity. Thus a volumetric defect, such as a gas pore in a
weld, will only provide a slight stress concentration. However a planar defect,
such as a crack, can produce a stress of yield magnitude with only a small
applied stress (Figure 5).
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
discontinuity radius (mm)
s
t
r
e
s
s

c
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
g
a
s

p
o
r
e
c
r
a
c
k

t
i
p
Figure 5 - Variation of stress concentration with radius of discontinuity
(note that this is only an example - the actual level of stress concentration
varies according to discontinuity orientation and structural geometry)
Welds are a common source of discontinuities which, depending on their
orientation, may initiate brittle fracture. If the weld profile itself is not smooth
(e.g. undercut), a severe stress concentration can arise. On a larger scale, other
common stress raisers in ships include hatch cover openings and ratholes at
the heel of stiffener brackets. Note that fracture is most likely to initiate in the
midships of a vessel, where the applied tensile stresses are at a maximum.
Therefore, higher toughness steels tend to be used in this area.
Page 8 of 35
It must be remembered that in addition to the applied stress, residual stresses
will be present within a fabricated structure, which will reinforce the applied
stress. Contraction of the weld metal during cooling will set up significant
stresses (of up to yield strength in magnitude) in the weld and adjacent parent
material. These can be decreased by a suitable post weld heat treatment,
which will, therefore, reduce the susceptibility of the structure to fracture.
2.2 Fracture Mechanisms
2.2.1 Brittle Fracture
When a material fails by brittle fracture, very little deformation occurs within
the structure. Instead the material literally cleaves in two. Failure is produced
by tensile stresses, thus the fracture surface is very flat and perpendicular to
the tensile axis. In plate materials, brittle fractures show a characteristic
chevron pattern (Figure 6). These chevron markings have a useful property, in
that they show the direction of crack propagation by pointing back to the
origin of fracture. Therefore, the possible cause of the brittle crack initiation
may be traced.
Figure 6 - Chevron markings on brittle fracture surface of grade A plate
Brittle fracture is initiated by a microcrack, which can form at a brittle
intermetallic inclusion or other microstructural discontinuity. Once a
microcrack has formed, the large stress concentration ahead of the crack tip
allows the crack to rapidly propagate through the structure, cleaving grains in
its path. The initiation of a microcrack requires only a small amount of
energy, and, as there is little plastic deformation, there is only a small
resistance to crack growth. Thus a brittle material has a low toughness. As
there is little ductile deformation at the crack tip, significant crack tip blunting
does not occur, thus a brittle crack may grow right through a structure with
little chance of crack arrest (providing that the load is maintained).
A brittle fracture surface has a brittle, shiny appearance. Under an electron
microscope, the fracture surface can be seen to be composed of a number of
angular flat facets, corresponding to the fracture faces of the cleaved grains
(Figure 7).
direction of
crack growth
Page 9 of 35
Figure 7 - Brittle (cleavage) fracture of mild steel (x250)
The general brittle fracture mechanism described above is that of
transgranular (across the grains) fracture. However, brittle fracture may also
occur by an intergranular (between the grains) mechanism (Figure 8). An
example of this is a result of temper embrittlement, which may occur in low
alloy steels if they are heat treated at an incorrect temperature. Residual
elements segregate along the grain boundaries resulting in local embrittlment.
This provides a path along which brittle fracture can occur, even though the
bulk of the material retains a high toughness.
Figure 8 - Intergranular brittle fracture in low carbon steel steel x50
intergranular
crack
Page 10 of 35
2.2.2 Ductile Failure
Ductile fracture (or shear) occurs as a result of extensive deformation of the
microstructure, and is promoted by shear stresses within the material. These
stresses reach a maximum at an angle of 45 to the tensile axis, and ductile
crack growth will tend to take place along this plane. This results in the
characteristic angular appearance of a ductile fracture surface (Figure 9).
Figure 9 - Ductile fracture surface showing shear at 45 to tensile axis in grade A plate
When the material is locally stressed above the yield point, shear (plastic)
deformation occurs. As the stress in increased, the deformation becomes more
extensive until small holes (microvoids) become nucleated at microstructural
discontinuities (such as inclusions). These microvoids then grow together
(coalesce), resulting in fracture (Figure 10). The important thing to note about
ductile fracture is that because a large amount of plastic deformation occurs, a
great deal of energy is required to produce failure. Thus there is a large
resistance to crack growth, so the toughness of a ductile material is high. Once
crack growth has initiated, ductile deformation tends to blunt the crack tip,
thus reducing the local stress concentration. Therefore, ductile fractures often
stop (arrest) with relatively little crack growth.

Figure 10 - Schematic of ductile fracture mechanism
ductile fracture surface
nucleation of large
void at inclusion
linkage of crack with
void
plastic deformation
ahead of crack tip
linkage of crack with
other voids
increasing
stress
Page 11 of 35
At low magnifications, a ductile fracture surface appears dull and fibrous.
However, under a microscope the characteristic fracture surface of ductile
microvoid coalescence can be clearly seen (Figure 11).
Figure 11 - Ductile fracture surface of C-Mn steel (x250)
2.3 Ductile To Brittle Transition
As the ambient temperature is lowered, it becomes progressively more
difficult for ductile fracture to occur, as plastic deformation requires thermal
energy to operate. Eventually a point will be reached at which there is
insufficient thermal energy for ductile failure to occur, and brittle fracture will
result. This is known as the ductile to brittle transition temperature (DBTT).
Plain carbon manganese steels typically have a DBTT of between -60 and
+20C. Note that the fracture mode does not instantly switch at the transition
temperature, but changes gradually over a temperature range of 20-30C.
Thus fracture surfaces are often of mixed-mode appearance, and contain both
ductile and brittle regions (Figure 12).
Figure 12 - Mixed mode fracture surface of C-Mn steel (x500)
brittle
facet
ductile
tear
Page 12 of 35
The ductile to brittle transition will usually only occur in materials with a
body-centred cubic (bcc) structure, such as ferritic steels. Materials with a
face-centred cubic (fcc) structure, such as aluminium and copper alloys and
some stainless steels are much more ductile, and will remain so even at very
low temperatures. However that these materials can become embrittled if
brittle compounds are precipitated within the structure, such as by an
incorrect heat treatment.
2.4 Structural Thickness And Constraint
The fracture mode can also be influenced by the thickness of a structure. The
stress condition within a material is not uniform throughout the depth of a
section (Figure 13). In the central region, the stress is distributed in three
dimensions (triaxial), a condition known as plane strain. Here deformation of
the microstructure is restricted by the triaxial stress state, and it is difficult for
ductile fracture to occur (i.e. stresses above the uniaxial yield stress are
required to cause yield). This is known as a region of high constraint.
Towards the surface of a material, the constraint is reduced, as it is not
possible for a triaxial stress state to exist. Here the stress state is two
dimensional or biaxial (known as plane stress) and it is much easier for ductile
failure to occur. This accounts for the characteristic shear lips which can be
found at the edge of (even brittle) fracture surfaces.
Figure 13 - Change in stress state through depth of section
It should be noted that constraint is not the only reason that a thick section is
particularly susceptible to brittle fracture. During processing of the material, it
is not possible to produce a uniform microstructure throughout a thick
section, thus the central region often has poorer mechanical properties than
the surface.
stress,

x
y
z
x
z
plane stress
(biaxial stress x,z)
plane strain
(triaxial stresses x, y, z)
Page 13 of 35
3. Toughness Testing
In order to avoid brittle fracture in a structural material, it is necessary to
perform tests to measure the materials resistance to fracture, i.e. the
toughness. There is no single method of measuring the toughness of a
material. Tests can be grouped into three main categories, which measure
different aspects of the material toughness:
Charpy tests
fracture toughness testing
crack arrest tests
It is important to note that as cracks in service developed from cracks or
notches, the laboratory test testpieces must contain similar discontinuities.
3.1 The Charpy Test
3.1.1 Introduction
Figure 14 - The Charpy test
By far the most widely used test within industry for assessing the toughness
of metals is the Charpy V-notch impact test (Figure 14). This measures the
energy required to fracture a standard testpiece. The testpiece is loaded by a
weighted pendulum at a very high strain rate (approximately 10
3
/ sec) and
the energy required to produce total fracture (crack initiation and
propagation) is measured. Note that similar tests with other shaped notches
(such as the U-notch test) are sometimes used, but the V-notch is by far the
most common and is the test required by LR Rules.
IMPACT LOAD
10mm
10mm
55mm
standard specimen
2mm deep
V-notch
Page 14 of 35
Test machines normally measure the energy absorbed during fracture in
Joules (J) over a range of 0-300J. If the energy absorbed during impact is
relatively high, a large amount of plastic (ductile) deformation will have
occurred within the testpiece, thus the fracture mode is ductile. However, if
the impact energy is relatively low, little ductile failure has occurred and the
fracture mode will be mostly brittle. Standards (including LR Rules) usually
quote a requirement for a minimum impact energy at a set temperature to
guard against brittle fracture.
As well as impact energy, the fracture mode can be deduced from the
appearance of the testpiece (Figure 15). A ductile testpiece will have a fibrous
(dull) fracture surface, and will be heavily deformed, thus the lateral
expansion of the testpiece is high. A brittle testpiece will have a crystalline
(shiny) fracture surface, and the lateral expansion will be low. Minimum
lateral expansion and maximum percentage fracture surface crystallinity
values are sometimes required by materials standards, but not by LR Rules.

189J impact energy 83J impact energy 21J impact energy
0% crystalline 50% crystalline 90% crystalline
2.1mm lateral expansion 1.3mm lateral expansion 0.2mm lateral expansion
Figure 15 - Fracture surface appearance according to failure mode (grade A material)
The overwhelming advantage of a Charpy test is that it is a quick, simple and
cheap test to conduct. It is also easy to perform tests at a range of sub-ambient
temperatures. Therefore, the test is widely used for the batch testing of
materials for quality control and acceptance purposes.
However, a problem with the Charpy test is the small size of the testpiece.
The testpiece thickness may be much smaller than the structure for which
material is being used, thus the constraint of the testpiece is lower. Therefore,
a more ductile fracture tends to occur in the testpiece than would happen in
practice. This makes it impossible to predict the behaviour of a cracked
structure, and thus design against failure. Also, the high rate of loading of the
testpiece is not usually representative of that in a real structure, and a
machined notch does not truly reflect a crack in a real structure.
DUCTILE BRITTLE MIXED-MODE
Page 15 of 35
3.1.2 Test Procedure
Charpy testing should be performed to BSEN 10045-1 (Charpy Test for
Metallic Materials, 1990) or an equivalent National Standard. Note that the
test is particularly sensitive to the size and shape of the machined notch, so
this should be checked before testing, using a suitable gauge. Details of the
test procedure requirements are contained within the LR Rules Chapter 2
Section 3.
There is a degree of scatter in Charpy test data, particularly within the ductile
to brittle transition temperature region. Therefore, it is standard practice to
conduct the test upon three testpieces and calculate the average impact
energy of the set. This average must meet the minimum impact energy
requirement of the specification. However, according to LR Rules, one
individual value less than this level can be accepted, provided that it is no less
than 70% of the required energy. Further explanation of the acceptance and
re-testing procedures for Charpy testing are contained within the Survey
Procedures Manual Part B Chapter 1.
If the material being tested is less than 10mm thick, it is not possible to
produce a full-sized Charpy testpiece. In this case a sub-sized testpiece
(7.5x10x55mm or 5x10x55mm) can be used for testing. Obviously the
constraint of these thin testpieces is even less than that of a standard testpiece,
thus the minimum impact energy requirement is not directly reduced
accordingly to fracture surface area. LR Rules specify the following minimum
energy requirement:
testpiece 5x10x55mm 2/ 3 of tabulated energy
testpiece 7.5x10x55mm 5/ 6 of tabulated energy
For rolled materials, such as plates and sections, the microstructure is
directionally deformed (anisotropic) and so the fracture properties vary
according to notch orientation (Figure 16).
0
25
50
75
100
125
-60 -40 -20 0 20
test temperature (C)
C
h
a
r
p
y

i
m
p
a
c
t

e
n
e
r
g
y

(
J
)
longitudinal
transverse
Figure 16 - Variation of Charpy impact energy with testpiece orientation for mild steel
(note - this is an example only and should not be used as a direct comparison)
rolling direction
longitudinal
transverse
Page 16 of 35
A longitudinal testpiece (notch perpendicular to the rolling direction) will
generally have a higher Charpy impact energy than a transverse (notch
parallel to rolling direction) testpiece. LR Rules now contain different impact
energy requirements according to the testpiece orientation. Note that for a
cross-rolled plate, the direction of the final pass is taken as the principal
rolling direction. Here the anisotropy in the Charpy values is much reduced.
When witnessing an impact test, it is important to note the type of Charpy
machine used. The pendulum hammer radius (2mm) of BSEN/ ISO standard
machines is smaller than that of ASTM type machines (8mm), which affects
the loading geometry at the notch. This can give different test results for
identical material, particularly if the impact energy is large, as shown in
Figure 17. LR Rule requirements are for BSEN/ ISO machines.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
-80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40
test temperature (C)
C
h
a
r
p
y

i
m
p
a
c
t

e
n
e
r
g
y

(
J
)
ISO
ASTM
Figure 17 - Variation in measured Charpy impact energy for ASTM and ISO standard impact
test machines for a structural steel (note - this is an example only and should not be used for
energy conversions between the two tests)
To counter the limited constraint of a Charpy testpiece, plates over 50mm
thick, which are particularly susceptible to brittle fracture, usually have an
increased Charpy energy for acceptance purposes.
Page 17 of 35
3.2 Fracture Toughness Testing
The fracture toughness of a material is a measure of its resistance to crack
initiation. Unlike Charpy toughness, which is limited by the constraint of a
testpiece, the fracture toughness of a material may be a material property.
Therefore, the fracture toughness of a material may be used for design
purposes to predict the failure of a cracked structure (design against failure).
The theory behind toughness and structural integrity (known as fracture
mechanics) will be discussed later in the paper.
There are several different parameters which can be used to assess the
fracture toughness of a material, which include:
KIC - plane strain fracture toughness
JIC - J-integral fracture toughness test
CTOD - crack tip opening displacement
The test procedures for these are all described in BS 7448-1 (Fracture
Mechanics Toughness Testing, 1991). Generally, tests are conducted using
very slow (quasi-static) loading rates, although high loading rate testing is
occasionally required for high strain rate applications. KIC and JIC are absolute
material properties independent of thickness. However, this is only true for
KIC above a minimum thickness, where the testpiece is of high constraint (i.e.
a plane strain state predominates), as shown in Figure 18.
0
50
100
150
200
250
1 10 100
specimen thickness (mm)
Figure 18 - Typical variation of KC with testpiece thickness
As well as testpiece thickness, the constraint of a testpiece is affected by its
ductility. Thus for structural steels, which are normally partially ductile at
ambient temperature, the minimum testpiece thickness at which plane strain
conditions are predominant (which can be calculated from the test standard)
can be in excess of 1 metre.
KIC
A
B
C A - plane stress
B - transition
C - plane strain
KC
(MPa m)
Page 18 of 35
This thick section size is impractical for testing and not relevant to real
structures, thus CTOD testing is generally used for ductile materials (Figure
19). This is the only fracture toughness test that is mentioned within LR
requirements, such as for the approval of a stud link chain cable manufacturer
(LR MQPS Book H Procedure 10-1 Section 6), weldability tests (LR MQPS
Book A Procedure 0-3 Section 3), and approval of controlled rolling
procedures (LR MQPS Book C Procedure 3-3 Section 5).
Figure 19 - A CTOD fracture toughness test
The CTOD test is described in the LR SPM Part B Chapter 2 Section 6. A
graphical record of force versus clip gauge extension is measured. The point
of crack initiation can be determined from a discontinuity in the force-
extension curve (Figure 20), and the amount by which the crack tip has
opened (, measured in mm) is calculated. The resistance to crack initiation
(i.e. fracture toughness) increases with increasing .
Figure 20 - Typical force-displacement curve for CTOD test of a structural steel
A
B
C
A - elastic strain
B - stable (ductile) crack growth
C - unstable crack growth
force
extension
critical
Page 19 of 35
Unlike KIC and JIC, the CTOD is not a true material property, thus the test
should always be conducted on a full thickness testpiece with regard to the
structural application. Testpieces are usually of an SENB (single edge notch
bend) or CT (compact tension) geometry (Figure 21). Prior to testing, a fatigue
pre-crack is grown from the machined notch under alternating load, in order
to provide a sharp notch (thus high stress concentration) to initiate fracture.
Figure 21 - Typical fracture toughness testpieces
3.3 Crack Arrest Tests
Fracture toughness tests are used for predicting the susceptibility of a cracked
structure to fracture. However, they only relate to the initiation of a crack,
thus do not predict whether a growing crack will arrest. If a brittle fracture
initiates in a material, it is important to try to ensure that it does not grow
through the entire structure. The crack arrest test can be used to determine
this will occur.
There are several crack arrest tests, the most common being the Drop Weight
Tear or Pellini test which is described in ASTM E208 (Standard Method for
Drop Weight Test of Ferritic Steels, 1995). There are more sophisticated
fracture mechanics crack arrest tests, but these are beyond the scope of this
paper.

SENB specimen
CT specimen
fatigue precrack
Page 20 of 35
The Pellini test was developed by the US Navy Research Establishment
following the Liberty ship failures. In order to initiate a brittle crack, a
deliberately brittle weld bead is deposited upon a plate of full thickness and
subsequently notched. A weight with a known kinetic energy is then dropped
onto the opposite face under controlled conditions (Figure 22), and the test
plate is deformed by a fixed displacement.
Figure 22 - The drop weight tear (Pellini) test
Following the test, two criteria for acceptance/ rejection exist, subject to visual
examination of the propagated crack (Figure 23). The first is the break
condition. Here the crack must reach at least one edge of the plate. The second
is the no-break condition, in which the crack has been found to reach neither
edge.
Figure 23 - Schematic of break and no-break condition Pellini testpieces
Tests are conducted upon at least six successive specimens to gauge the
critical break/ no break test temperature. An iterative process is to increase or
decrease the test temperature of each subsequent test (according to a National
standard procedure), in order to hone in upon the critical temperature. The
highest temperature at which a break result occurs is defined as the Nil
Ductility Transition Temperature (NDTT).
Provided that the design temperature does not fall below some margin above
the NDTT, it may be assumed that a brittle crack will not propagate through a
structure. Determination of the NDTT is required for the approval of certain
steelworks, (e.g. LR MQPS Book C Procedure 3-1 Section 5),
no-break
break
weld bead
machined
notch
Pellini testplate
Page 21 of 35
4. Material Effects
It has already been shown that structural steels are susceptible to
embrittlement below a certain temperature. This ductile to brittle transition
temperature (DBTT) is affected by a number of material parameters including:
chemical composition
grain size and microstructure
strain rate
The DBTT must be low enough to ensure an adequately small risk of brittle
fracture at normal operating temperatures. Firstly, it is important to define
what the DBTT is.
4.1 Definition Of The Ductile To Brittle Transition Temperature
There are various methods of defining the ductile to brittle transition
temperature. The most common method used in industrial specifications is to
specify the transition as occurring at some set Charpy impact energy value.
For structural steels, this is usually taken as the temperature at which an
impact energy of 27J is achieved (Figure 24), and this is widely used within LR
Rules. This implies that structural steels above this energy level will fracture
in a largely ductile mode, and hence be resistant to brittle fracture at the test
temperature.
Figure 24 - Typical Charpy impact energy transition temperature for a structural steel
brittle
DBTT
27J
test temperature
Charpy
impact
energy
ductile
Page 22 of 35
An alternative method of estimating the DBTT is by plotting a transition
curve in terms of percentage crystallinity (Figure 25). Here the transition
temperature (known as the fracture appearance transition temperature,
FATT) is defined as that at which a fracture surface of 50% ductile, 50%
crystalline appearance is achieved. Above this temperature, ductile failure
predominates and hence the material will be more resistant to brittle failure
Figure 25 - Transition temperature for a structural steel, based upon crystallinity
4.2 Chemical Composition
The DBTT of a material can be altered by varying the chemical composition of
a material. Figure 26 summarises the effects of various alloying elements
upon the transition temperature of a mild steel.
Figure 26 - Variation of Charpy transition curve of a mild steel with alloying additions
Carbon, which is added to strengthen the metal, and certain other elements
raise the transition temperature and can, therefore, embrittle the material.
Elements that lower the transition temperature such as manganese improve
the toughness. Carbon raises the DBTT by 15C for every 0.1wt% added,
brittle
DBTT
DBTT
50%
test temperature
test temperature
Charpy
impact
energy
(CV)
Charpy
impact
energy
ductile
fracture
surface
crystallinity (CX)
brittle
ductile
C
P
Si
Mo
O
Mn
Ni
Al
CV
CX
Page 23 of 35
whereas manganese lowers it by 5C for every 0.1wt.% added. Therefore, to
counter the effect of increased carbon content manganese should be added in
a ratio of 3 to 1. LR Rules for Grade A rolled steel plates specify a manganese
to carbon ratio of at least 2.5 to 1 in order to achieve adequate toughness (LR
Rules Part 2 Chapter 3 Section 2.2).
Other elements, such as nickel, can be used to produce further reductions in
the DBTT. Note, however, that care should be taken with such highly alloyed
steels. An incorrect heat treatment can embrittle the microstructure and
drastically increase the DBTT. An example of this is temper embrittlement,
which can occur in ferritic steels containing chromium, molybdenum or
nickel, during slow cooling between 600 and 300C. If impurity elements
(especially antimony, phosphorous, tin or arsenic) are present, these segregate
to the grain boundaries and cause intergranular fracture. Tests are sometimes
required (LR Rules Part 2 Chapter 2 Section 5.1) to ensure that a material is
not susceptible to temper embrittlement.
4.3 Microstructure Effects
The processing method of a rolled material, which can alter the
microstructure, can also affect the DBTT. Materials with a fine grain size
generally have a lower DBTT and therefore improved toughness. Decreasing
the grain size of a mild steel from ASTM 5 to ASTM 10 can lower the DBTT by
up to 60C (Figure 27). Note that an additional advantage of decreasing the
grain size is that the yield strength will be increased.
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
5 6 7 8 9 10
ASTM grain size
D
B
T
T

(

C
)
150
200
250
300
350
400
y
i
e
l
d

s
t
r
e
n
g
t
h

(
M
P
a
)
DBTT
yield strength
Figure 27 - Typical variation of yield strength and toughness of a mild steel with grain size
(note - this is an example only and will vary according to the material)
Page 24 of 35
The factors that can be used to decrease the grain size of steels include:
adding grain refining alloy additions (e.g. Al, Nb, V)
lowering the finishing temperature in as-rolled steels
normalising a finished product
using a thermo-mechanical controlled process (TMCP)
This can be a problem in the heat affected zone (HAZ) of a weld, where grain
growth may occur (depending on the heat input of the process), which will
thus raise the transition temperature.
4.4 Strain Rate
The toughness of a material will also be affected by the rate at which it is
loaded. For a material to fracture in a ductile manner, plastic deformation is
required. This takes a finite amount of time, whereas brittle fracture
(cleavage) can occur almost instantly. Therefore, if a ductile material is shock
loaded (such as the wave slamming experienced against a ship hull in a
storm), there may be insufficient time for it to undergo ductile deformation,
and it may show a tendency towards brittle fracture.
It is not possible to alter the loading rate of a Charpy test, although this is a
high loading rate test, and thus will provide a conservative measure of the
transition temperature. However, for fracture toughness testing, the DBTT
has been shown to increase by up to 40C by changing the loading rate from
slow (quasi-static) to shock loading.
4.5 Service Embrittlement
It is important to realise that the toughness of a material can degrade during
service. An example of this is neutron embrittlement, which can be
experienced in nuclear reactor vessels. However, the most important service
embrittlement mechanism is strain ageing.
Strain ageing may occur in ferritic steels with a high free nitrogen content. If
the material is cold strained (such as during fabrication processes such as cold
forming or line heating), nitrogen atoms diffuse within the structure to these
strained areas and produce an embrittling effect. This can increase the DBTT
of the material by as much as 60C. To counter this, LR recommends that the
nitrogen level of the ladle analysis should not exceed 90ppm or 0.009wt.%
(SPM Part B Chapter 3 Section 1.2), and that the cold strain applied to steel
sections should not exceed 5% without some form of stress relieving heat
treatment (LR Rules Part 2 Chapter 13 Section 7.3). In addition, strain age
embrittlement tests (LR Rules Part 2 Chapter 2 Section 5.2) are required
during the works approval of steel plates and sections, to ensure the materials
are not susceptible to strain ageing.
Page 25 of 35
5. Toughness Of LR Materials
This section will deal with the LR Rule requirements for the toughness
(Charpy) testing of materials. As discussed in earlier sections, compositional
requirements have been introduced into LR Rules to ensure adequate material
toughness. Minimum ductility levels of tensile test specimens are also
required to guard against brittle fracture.
5.1 Normal Strength Ship Steels
There are four toughness grades for LR normal strength ship steels, which are
classified according to achieving a minimum Charpy impact energy at a
specified test temperature (LR Rules Part 2 Chapter 3 Section 2.4):
Grade A tested at +20C
Grade B tested at 0C
Grade D tested at -20C
Grade E tested at -40C
It is important to realise that this is a test temperature only, and does
necessarily reflect the minimum temperature to which a structure can be
exposed. This is dealt with in the next chapter (materials selection). For steels
with a thickness of less than 50mm, an impact energy of 27J is considered
sufficient to avoid brittle fracture at the specified test temperature. However,
if the section thickness of a steel exceeds 50mm, the required minimum
Charpy energy is increased accordingly, to order counter the effects of
increased constraint in the structural application.
Although only longitudinal oriented Charpy testpieces are usually required,
transverse Charpy requirements (which are sometimes specified in a design)
have a lower specified minimum energy to reflect the anisotropic toughness
properties of a rolled material.
Note that impact tests are not directly required for grade A material less than
50mm thick. However, regular in-house checks are required every 250t of
material, to ensure that the material meets the required toughness.
5.2 Higher Strength Ship Steels
As the strength (UTS) of a steel is increased, in general its ductility and
resistance to brittle fracture (toughness) are decreased. LR Rules sometimes
limit the UTS, or yield to UTS ratio, in order to ensure that high strength
materials have adequate ductility (LR Rules Part 2 Chapter 3 Section 3.6).
Page 26 of 35
Higher strength steels also generally have a higher minimum Charpy energy
requirement, which can be approximated (in J) as the minimum yield strength
(in MPa or N/ mm
2
) divided by ten:
AH 32 grade (minimum yield strength 315MPa) - energy requirement 31J
AH 36 grade (minimum yield strength 355MPa) - energy requirement 34J
AH 40 grade (minimum yield strength 390MPa) - energy requirement 41J
These steels are similarly graded to normal strength steel according to test
temperature. However, there is no BH grade and an additional FH grade
exists.
Grade AH tested at 0C
Grade DH tested at -20C
Grade EH tested at -40C
Grade FH tested at -60C
Impact energy requirements are also varied according to section thickness
and Charpy testpiece orientation.
Page 27 of 35
6. Material Selection For Fracture Control
Material selection for fracture control is the task of the naval architect
designing a vessel, thus the requirements are contained within Part 3 of the
LR Rules. Although this section only details materials selection according to
toughness, it is important to note that other material properties (such as
strength and corrosion resistance) must also be considered.
6.1 General LR Rule Requirements For Ships
Under the general LR Rule requirements for materials selection regarding
fracture control, each region of a vessel is assigned one of five different
material classes (LR Rules Part 3 Chapter 2 Section 2.1). For each hull
member, this class reflects the:
level of stress, for example the midships of a vessel tend to experience
higher stresses than the bow or stern
exposure to weather, as exposed material will experience lower
temperatures and may corrode at a higher rate than within a sheltered region,
thus may eventually experience a higher stress and be more susceptible to
brittle fracture
need to arrest cracks, as a brittle crack could be catastrophic for the
integrity of the vessel in some hull members, e.g. a sheerstrake, but low risk in
others
This class is then related to a toughness grade of steel, a higher class requiring
a higher grade. The required grade also increases with section thickness,
reflecting the increase in constraint for thick materials. Higher toughness
grade materials are also required (for certain members) if a ship operates for a
extended periods in low air temperatures or contains refrigerated spaces.
Page 28 of 35
6.2 Ice-Breaking Ships
Due to the ductile to brittle transition of structural steels at lower
temperatures, particular care has to be taken for ice-breaking ships. The LR
requirements for ice-class vessels (LR Rules Part 3 Chapter 2 Section 2.3)
allow for specification of air temperatures of between 0 and -45C. Material
selection for lower air temperatures must be given special consideration.
As for the normal LR Rule requirements, the hull members are classed
according to location. The forward part of the vessel (which will experience
the most severe ice conditions) has the most stringent material requirements.
As well as stress however, the expected operating temperatures are
specifically considered. These are calculated from the minimum design air
temperature, making allowance for the degree of exposure to the elements.
Thus the operating temperature of sheltered sections may be higher than the
minimum design air temperature.
The grade of material is then determined from one of two graphs (Figure 28)
according to minimum air temperature and structural thickness.
-45
-40
-35
-30
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
material thickness (mm)
o
p
e
r
a
t
i
n
g

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

(

C
)

D
DH
E, EH
FH
Boundary lines form
part of the lower grade
Figure 28 - Selection of steel grade for exposed regions of ice-breaking ships
Page 29 of 35
6.3 Liquefied Gas Ships
A similar situation to that of ice-breakers exists in the design of liquefied gas
ships, where even lower temperatures are encountered in the containment
and transport of liquid fuel gases. Examples of temperatures for common
liquid gases are:
propane (LPG) -45C
ethylene (LEG) -104C
methane (LNG) -163C
The material requirements for vessels required to transport such gases are
given in the LR Rules for Ships for Liquefied Gases Chapter 6 Section 2. The
problem of using C-Mn structural steels is that even with grade FH material,
the lower temperature is limited to -60C. Therefore, special low temperature
materials need to be employed. Figure 29 details the Charpy impact energy of
various candidate materials at low temperatures.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
-250 -200 -150 -100 -50 0
temperature (C)
C
h
a
r
p
y

i
m
p
a
c
y

e
n
e
r
g
y
stainless
steel
Invar
9%Ni 5%Ni 3.5%Ni
LT60
C-Mn
LT40
C-Mn
LT20
C-Mn
Al alloys
Figure 29 - Typical variation of Charpy impact energy with temperature for various materials
Page 30 of 35
It can be seen that high nickel alloys (such as Invar, Fe-35%Ni), stainless steels
and aluminium alloys remain ductile even at very low temperatures.
However, these materials are very costly and may exhibit other problems
such as poor weldability or corrosion susceptibility.
A cheaper solution is to use ferritic steels with a low to medium nickel content
(sufficient to provide a transition temperature suitable for liquid gas cargo)
which are detailed in LR Rules Part 2 Chapter 3 Section 6. If an operating
temperature of between 0 and -55C is required, special (LT designated) high
strength carbon-manganese grades can be used. However, these are subject to
special processing and compositional limits, and more extensive impact
testing than standard high strength materials. If the required operating
temperature is between -60 and -165C, nickel grade ferritic steels can be used,
with a nickel content of between 1.5 to 9.0wt.%. The required material is
selected according to design temperature and section thickness (Figure 30).
-200
-160
-120
-80
-40
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
material thickness (mm)
m
i
n
i
m
u
m

d
e
s
i
g
n

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

(

C
)


1.5Ni
3.5Ni
5Ni
9Ni
Figure 30 - Minimum design temperature for nickel grade steels
Page 31 of 35
7. Fracture Mechanics
It has been shown that Charpy tests can be used for acceptance purposes to
ensure adequate toughness in service. However, such tests cannot be used to
analyse to assess the integrity of a cracked structure.
The theory behind the mathematical analysis of fracture is known as fracture
mechanics. This enables a designer to conduct engineering critical
assessments, to demonstrate the fitness for purpose or safety of a structure
with crack-like defects. It is important to realise that a cracked structure will
not necessarily fail, and it is sometimes safer to leave a crack within a
structure than attempting a repair, which could embrittle the microstructure
or introduce residual stresses, for instance. Fracture mechanics is a highly
complex subject, so this section is only intended as a brief introduction to the
subject. Further information can be obtained from the LRTA paper:
Engineering Fracture Mechanics, A.Cameron and V.Pomeroy, Paper no.2, session 1985-6
7.1 Introduction
When a body containing a crack (of length a) is subjected to an applied stress
(), a stress concentration () is produced ahead of the crack tip, which varies
with distance from the crack tip (x). Elasticity theory suggests that as the crack
tip is approached (i.e. x0), the stress concentration approaches infinity
(), as shown in Figure 31.
Figure 31 - Theoretical variation of stress concentration with distance from a crack tip
However, in practice no material can withstand an infinite stress, and material
close to the crack tip yields by ductile deformation, resulting in the formation
of a plastic zone (Figure 32). Note that the local stress at which crack tip
yielding occurs may be greater than the uniaxial (tensile) yield stress, and
varies according to the specimen constraint. The yield stress is greater for a
x

Page 32 of 35
triaxial stress state (plane strain) than a biaxial one (plane stress). Note that
even in a brittle material, some ductility always occurs at the crack tip
Figure 32 - Actual variation of stress concentration with distance from the crack tip
The stress concentration at the crack tip is quantified by a value K, the stress
intensity factor. This parameter can be used to scale the stress distribution
ahead of the crack tip according to the applied stress, crack length and
geometry of the crack and surrounding structure (geometrical factor Y):
K Y a =
As an increasing stress is applied to a cracked structure, the stress intensity
factor increases, until one of three possible failure mechanisms occurs:
Brittle failure
If the stress intensity factor reaches a critical value, which is known as KIC, the
stress ahead of the crack tip is high enough to nucleate a brittle crack. This
crack propagates in a rapid, unstable manner through the structure, causing it
to fail catastrophically. The critical stress intensity factor to produce brittle
fracture is called the fracture toughness of a material. KIC is a material
property which can be measured in the laboratory, and can be used to predict
the occurrence of brittle fracture in engineering structures. This theory is
known as linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), and generally holds true
as long as the size of the plastic zone is small compared to the crack, and the
material is thick enough to experience plain strain conditions.
Stable (ductile) crack growth
For a ductile material, such as a structural steel at ambient temperature, the
plastic zone size is much larger than that of a brittle material and the stress
distribution ahead of the crack tip is distorted. The size of the plastic zone is
so large, that before sufficient stress is generated ahead of the crack tip to
x

plastic
zone

f
Page 33 of 35
produce brittle fracture, local ductile failure occurs at the crack tip. Crack
growth tends to be slow and stable, controlled by the plastic strain at the
crack tip region. This local strain is measured by the CTOD test, and hence
can be used to quantify the resistance to crack extension (fracture toughness).
This theory is known as elastic plastic fracture mechanics (EPFM) and can be
applied to ductile or brittle materials, as local ductility always occurs at the
crack tip.
plastic collapse
In a very ductile material, the size of the plastic zone is so large that it reaches
the edge of a structure without any local ductile crack growth happening. In
this event, the whole cross section of the structure fails uniformly by necking
(reduction of area) or shear, a mechanism known as plastic collapse.
7.2 Design Against Failure
It is relatively straightforward to design against brittle fracture in a structure.
This can be achieved by ensuring that the stress intensity factor (K) from the
maximum design stress is below that of the fracture toughness (KIC).
Similarly, a structure will only fail by plastic collapse if the design stress
exceeds the flow stress of the material.
In practice, however, the failure mode of a structure will be between these
two extremes. One way of assessing the integrity of a structure against these
intermediate failure modes is to use a failure assessment diagram (FAD) of a
material, such as shown in Figure 33.
Figure 33 - Typical failure assessment diagram
The two extremes of behaviour are linked by a curve separating a SAFE
region from a FAIL region. The shape of the curve can be derived from the
stress/ strain curve of the material. Both KR and SR can then be calculated for a
particular defect in a loaded structure, and plotted on the FAD. Inside the
K
R
=
stress intensity factor
fracture toughness
S
R
=
load on structure
plastic collapse load
KR
SR
SAFE
FAIL
1.0
0.5
0
1.0 0.5 0
Page 34 of 35
SAFE region, the structure will be safe, but in the FAIL region there will be a
risk of failure.
Failure assessment diagrams and fitness for purpose applications are outlined
within BS7910 (British Standard for Assessing the Acceptability of Flaws in
Metallic Structures, 1999)
Further information on the application of fracture mechanics to engineering
structures can be obtained from the LRTA paper:
Fracture Mechanics Applications, D.Howarth and P.Pumphrey, Paper no.6, Session 1997-8
Page 35 of 35
8. Summary
This paper has introduced the basic aspects of fracture in metallic structures.
In summary:
there are two basic fracture modes: ductile and brittle. Brittle fracture
can be particularly catastrophic for a structure, as it propagates in a rapid,
unstable manner.
carbon-manganese steel structures are subject to brittle fracture at
low temperatures. Therefore for low temperature service (<-55C), special
high nickel grade steels and non-ferrous materials should be used.
the susceptibility to brittle fracture increases with section thickness.
Charpy testing is used as a quality control check to ensure the
adequate toughness of structural materials.
fracture toughness testing can be used to predict the integrity of a
cracked structure.