CARBON 4 8 ( 2 0 1 0 ) 2 2 5 5 –2 2 6 5

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Tensile fracture in notched polycrystalline graphite specimens

M.R. Ayatollahi *, A.R. Torabi

Fatigue and Fracture Research Laboratory, Center of Excellence in Experimental Solid Mechanics and Dynamics, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, 16846 Tehran, Iran

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history:
Received 12 January 2010
Accepted 26 February 2010
Available online 4 March 2010
Brittle fracture was studied experimentally and theoretically for a polycrystalline graphite
using samples containing rounded-tip V-notches. Three different geometric notch shapes
were investigated. A fracture theory was developed to determine the notch fracture tough-
ness and experimental results agreed well with the theory.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction has dealt with brittle fracture in V-notched graphite compo-

Graphite is widely used in different industries such as power
plants, steel making industries, etc. in various forms like
graphite electrodes, carbon brushes and refractory graphite
parts. The graphite fibers are also used widely for manufac-
turing composite materials and structures (such as graphite/
epoxy composites). Although graphite is well-known as a
material with high thermal resistance, it is vulnerable to brit-
tle fracture under loading. Graphite components like graphite
electrodes, graphite rotors and blades may contain notches
with different shapes such as V-shaped notches. A V-notch
plays the role of a stress raiser and it is a likely site for the
mechanical failure of notched graphite components due to
brittle fracture. The V-notches can be treated as either sharp
or rounded-tip. In the engineering design, the rounded-tip V-
notches are usually utilized more than the sharp ones, be-
cause the stress concentration in the vicinity of the notch
tip is decreased when the notch tip is rounded and hence
the fracture resistance of the V-notch increases. Since graph-
ite is a brittle material, it often fails suddenly by brittle frac-
ture when subjected to excessive mechanical loads.
Therefore, it is important to investigate the fracture resis-
tance of V-notched graphite components under mechanical
loading.
While extensive experimental and theoretical studies have
been carried out in the past to study brittle fracture of graph-
ite in the presence of sharp macro-cracks, almost no paper
nents. Here, some of the previous studies on pure mode I
(opening) and mixed mode I/II (opening–sliding) fracture in
cracked graphite materials are briefly reviewed.
Awaji and Sato [1] were among the earliest researchers
who conducted a series of mixed mode I/II fracture toughness
tests on polycrystalline graphite materials using the cracked
Brazilian disc (CBD) specimen. The Brazilian disc (BD) is a test
specimen of circular shape that has been frequently used in
the past for determining the tensile strength of various brittle
or quasi-brittle materials (e.g. graphite) by applying a com-
pressive load along the disc diameter. The CBD specimen is
a modified BD specimen in which a center crack is generated
in the BD specimen in order to measure fracture toughness of
brittle materials. Lomakin et al. [2] investigated the processes
of micro and macro-crack generation and accumulation in
graphites at room temperature. Yamauchi et al. [3,4] also eval-
uated the mixed mode I/II fracture toughness of graphite by
means of two disc-type specimens: CBD specimen and
semi-circular bend (SCB) specimen. The SCB sample is a
half-disc specimen with an angled edge crack subjected to
three-point bend (TPB) loading [4]. Li et al. [5] used a single-
edge crack specimen to investigate mixed mode fracture in
a polycrystalline graphite. Through using a TPB sandwiched
specimen, the mode I fracture toughness of a nuclear graphite
was studied by Shi et al. [6]. In this method, a rectangular
beam of the test material is put between two sandwiching
steel beams. Once the sandwich is loaded in three-point

* Corresponding author: Fax: +98 21 77 240 488.

E-mail address: m.ayat@iust.ac.ir (M.R. Ayatollahi).
0008-6223/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2010.02.041
2256 CARBON 4 8 ( 2 0 1 0 ) 2 2 5 5 –2 2 6 5
Nomenclature
dc critical distance from the notch tip for MS crite-
rion
d c critical distance from the coordinate origin for MS
criterion
E Young’s modulus
KIc plane-strain fracture toughness (for the case of
sharp crack)
K VI ;q notch stress intensity factor-mode I
K VIc;q notch fracture toughness
r0 distance between the coordinate origin and the
notch tip
bending, a sharp crack with a certain length is generated in
the test specimen in a controlled manner. Etter et al. [7] also
studied the mode I fracture toughness KIc of an interpenetrat-
ing graphite/aluminium composite produced by the indirect
squeeze casting process. They suggested that the significant
increase in fracture toughness due to small additions of a
ductile metal phase could be attributed to crack bridging by
plastic deformation of the metal phase.
There are also several theoretical studies dealing with
fracture in graphite, based mainly on the micro-structural as-
pects of material, e.g. [8–10]. One well-known theory is the
Burchell model [10] which relates the catastrophic failure in
graphite to the initiation and subcritical growth of cracks
from pre-existing pores or defects. Awaji and Sato [1] fitted
a curve to the experimental results they obtained from frac-
ture tests on two types of graphite (using the centrally
cracked Brazilian disc) and suggested an empirical equation
for mixed mode fracture in graphite. However, Ayatollahi
and Aliha [11] showed recently that such empirical equations
are significantly geometry dependent and cannot be used for
graphite components having different geometry and loading
conditions. Ayatollahi and Aliha [11] also made use of a gen-
eralized maximum tangential stress criterion and presented
very good estimates for experimental results reported in
Ref. [1]. The same criterion was used by Ayatollahi and Aliha
to provide very good estimates for the experimental results
obtained from other brittle materials like soda-lime glass
[12], rock [13] and dental resin materials [14].
As mentioned earlier, no work has been published in the
past on the fracture analysis of V-notched graphite speci-
mens. In this research, first the fracture resistance of three
polycrystalline graphite components that contained a
rounded-tip V-notch were determined experimentally under
pure mode I (or opening mode) loading. For this purpose,
the fracture tests were conducted on three different V-
notched specimens called the rounded-tip V-notched Brazil-
ian disc (RV-BD), the rounded-tip V-notched semi-circular
bend (RV-SCB) and the rounded-tip V-notched TPB (RV-TPB)
specimens made of a commercial grade of polycrystalline
graphite under pure mode I loading conditions. A theoretical
criterion called the mean stress (MS) criterion was then pro-
posed for predicting the experimental results. It is shown that
the experimental results can be predicted by using the results
2a notch angle
k1 eigenvalues (singularity exponents)
l1 eigenvalues (real parameters)
m Poisson’s ratio
q notch tip radius
rrr radial stress
rrh in-plane shear stress
rt tensile strength
ru ultimate tensile strength
rhh tangential stress
ðrhh Þc critical value of rhh
of the MS criterion for various notch angles and different
notch tip radii.
2. Experiments
2.1. Material
The material used was a commercial-grade polycrystalline
graphite with medium-size equi-axed grains. Its material
properties were: the mean grain size of 320 lm, bulk density
of 1710 kg/m3, mean tensile strength of 27.5 MPa, Young’s
modulus of 8.05 GPa and the plane-strain fracture toughness
of 1.0 MPa m0.5. The grain size was determined by using the
SEM technique and the density was measured from the buoy-
ancy method. The Young’s modulus (E) was determined by
using the load–displacement graphs recorded by a universal
tension-compression machine. To measure the plane-strain
fracture toughness (KIc) and the tensile strength (rt) of graph-
ite materials, a common method is to use the CBD specimen
and the non-cracked Brazilian disc specimen, respectively, as
described earlier. The BD specimen with diameter of 50 mm
and thickness of 8 mm was used to measure rt. Also, a CBD
specimen of the same dimensions but with a central crack
of length 25 mm was utilized to obtain KIc. In order to deter-
mine the average values of rt and KIc, five experiments were
conducted on each BD and CBD specimens. The average val-
ues were then used in the theoretical computations. It is note-
worthy that the percentage discrepancies between the
maximum and the minimum values of rt and KIc were about
7% and 6%, respectively. It was also necessary to examine
whether the tested material is isotropic at least in the plane
where the specimens were cut. Therefore, four BD specimens
were fabricated and tested in two different loading directions
perpendicular to each other (i.e. two tests for each direction).
The results showed that the mean values of the tensile
strength for the tested polycrystalline graphite in two differ-
ent loading directions were almost identical with a maximum
discrepancy of about 5%, demonstrating a nearly-isotropic
material behavior. However, we conducted all our notch frac-
ture experiments from specimens cut in identical directions
from the initial graphite block. By this arrangement possible
effect from this maximum 5% difference would also be
prevented.
 CARBON 4 8 ( 20 1 0 ) 2 2 5 5–22 6 5 2257

2.2. Test specimens
The SCB specimen [4], the CBD specimen [1,3] and the rectan-
gular plate with an edge crack under TPB and four-point bend
(FPB) loading are some of the well-known specimens which
have been previously used for fracture testing on cracked
specimens made of graphite or other brittle materials. Both
TPB and FPB specimens have also been used to perform frac-
ture tests on V-notches [15,16] but only for PMMA and ceramic
materials. In this research, the TPB specimen (called in this
(a): RV-TPB specimen
P manufactured for each of the 27 different geometry shapes
ρ the specimens were accurately fabricated by using a high-pre-
a
paper the RV-TPB specimen) together with two new speci-
mens (RV-BD and RV-SCB) were used to determine the notch
fracture toughness of rounded-tip V-notched polycrystalline
graphite components, experimentally.
The RV-BD specimen is a new version of the CBD specimen
in which the central crack is replaced by a central rhombic
hole with rounded corners simulating rounded-tip V-notches.
As previously introduced, the SCB specimen which contains a
sharp edge crack has been frequently utilized by several
researchers to measure the fracture toughness of different
brittle materials (see for example [4]). The RV-SCB specimen
utilized in the present research is in fact a new version of
the SCB specimen where the sharp crack is replaced with a
rounded-tip V-notch.
Fig. 1 shows these specimens, schematically. The dimen-
sions of the specimens are summarized in Tables 1–3.
The parameters a, q and 2a correspond to the notch length,
the notch tip radius and the notch angle, respectively. The
thickness for all the specimens was equal to 8 mm.
In the next step, fracture tests were performed on the V-
notched specimens. For each of the three notched specimens
shown in Fig. 1, three notch angles as 30, 60 and 90 (deg.) were
considered. For each opening angle, three notch tip radii as 1,
2 and 4 mm were also produced. Moreover, to study the
repeatability of the test results three similar specimens were
described above. Therefore, a total number of 81 tests were
performed. To prepare the specimens, several plates with
thickness of 8 mm were first cut from a graphite block. Then,
cision CNC water jet cutting machine. Before conducting

experiments, the cut surfaces of the specimens were gently

2α
polished by using a fine abrasive paper. As presented in Table
3, the dimensions of the RV-TPB specimens for the notch radii
S 1 and 2 mm are different from the dimensions of the speci-
men that has a notch radius of 4 mm. This is because accord-
D ing to Ref. [17], the elastic stress field around a rounded-tip V-
(b): RV-SCB specimen

P Table 1 – The dimensions of the RV-BD specimens.

Specimen a (mm) D (mm) q (mm) 2a (deg.)

RV-BD 15 60 1, 2, 4 30, 60, 90

ρ

2α
Table 2 – The dimensions of the RV-SCB specimens.
Specimen a (mm) D (mm) S (mm) q (mm) 2a (deg.)

RV-SCB 15 60 45 1, 2, 4 30, 60, 90

Table 3 – The dimensions of the RV-TPB specimens.

(c): RV-BD specimen
Specimen q a L S W 2a
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (deg.)

RV-TPB 1, 2 10 100 60 20 30, 60, 90

Fig. 1 – The V-notched specimens used for performing
4 16 160 96 32 30, 60, 90
fracture tests.
2258 CARBON 4 8 ( 2 0 1 0 ) 2 2 5 5 –2 2 6 5
notch (given in the next section) is sufficiently accurate only
when the notch length ratio (notch length a/notch radius q)
becomes equal to or larger than 4.
During the fracture tests on the RV-BD specimens, a com-
pressive monotonic load was applied to the specimen under a
displacement-control loading condition with a rate of
0.05 mm/min. When the direction of the applied load was
along the notch bisector line, the V-notch (the upper and low-
er corners of the rhombic hole in Fig. 1c) were simultaneously
subjected to pure mode I (or opening) deformation. Following
a gradual increase in load, fracture occurred suddenly and the
fracture load was recorded by the test machine. Fig. 2 shows a
sample RV-BD specimen inside the test machine.
Fig. 2 – The RV-BD specimen inside the test machine.
Fig. 3 – The RV-SCB specimen under TPB.
Fig. 4 – The RV-TPB specimen under TPB.
As shown in Figs. 1b and 3, the RV-SCB specimen is placed
on two bottom supports which are positioned in the same
horizontal distances from the center of the specimen. The
compressive load P is monotonically applied to the specimen
along the notch bisector and the specimen is subjected to TPB
loading.
The loading conditions for the RV-TPB specimens are very
similar to the RV-SCB specimens. The loading rate for the RV-
SCB and the RV-TPB specimens was also equal to 0.05 mm/
min. Fig. 4 shows a sample RV-TPB specimen under TPB.
Fig. 5 displays sample V-notched specimens before and
after fracture experiments. It is seen from this figure that
the fracture planes in all specimens were straight and along
the symmetry plane. The load–displacement curves recorded
during the fracture tests were all linear and fracture took
place suddenly. Therefore, the use of a brittle fracture crite-
rion based on the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) is
permissible. Fig. 6 shows a sample load–displacement curve
corresponding to one of the RV-BD specimens. The absolute
values of load and displacement have been shown in this
figure.
The recorded fracture loads are also presented in Table 4.
In order to analyze the experimental results, in the upcoming
sections, first the elastic stress distribution around a
rounded-tip V-notch is presented and then, a fracture crite-
rion is developed in order to estimate the experimental
results.
3. Elastic stress distribution for V-notches
The elastic stress field in the vicinity of rounded-tip V-shaped
notches was first developed by Filippi et al. [17] as an approx-
imate expression which is simplified to the Williams’ solution
[18] for sharp V-notches (i.e. when the notch tip radius is
zero). This expression is an approximate solution because it
satisfies the boundary conditions only in a finite number of
points on the notch edge and not on the whole edge. Filippi
et al. [17] obtained the stress field using a conformal mapping
 CARBON 4 8 ( 20 1 0 ) 2 2 5 5–22 6 5 2259

Fig. 5 – V-notched graphite specimens, before and after fracture tests.

Under pure mode I (or pure opening mode), the elastic

2500
Load-displacement graph for a RV-BD specimen
stresses in the polar coordinate system rhh, rrr and rrh can
be written as:
2000 8 9ðIÞ 28 9ðIÞ 8 9ðIÞ 3
< rhh >
> = V;q >
< mhh ðhÞ >
=  l1 k1 >
< nhh ðhÞ >
=
K 6 r 7
rrr ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiI 4 mrr ðhÞ þ nrr ðhÞ 5
1500 >
: >
; 2pr 1k1 >
: >
; r0 >
: >
;
Load (N)

rrh mrh ðhÞ nrh ðhÞ

ð1Þ
1000
where KV;q
I is the mode I notch stress intensity factor (NSIF)
and r0 is the distance between the origin of the polar coordi-
500
nate system and the notch tip which can be calculated from
Eq. (2). The functions mij(h) and nij(h) and also the values of
0 parameters k1, l1, vb1 ; vc1 ; vd1 for various notch angles have
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 been reported in Ref. [17]. The parameter q is defined in Eq. (2).
Displacement (mm) It should be noted that the stresses presented in Eq. (1) are
approximated by the analytical expressions that are valid in
Fig. 6 – A sample load–displacement curve obtained for one
the region close to the notch tip.
of the RV-BD specimen.
According to a relation that exists between the Cartesian
and the curvilinear coordinate systems, r0 can be written as
in an auxiliary system of curvilinear coordinates ‘‘U and V’’ [17]:
that are related to the Cartesian coordinates ‘‘X and Y’’ as q1 2p  2a
(X + iY) = (U + iV)q. The power q is a real positive coefficient r0 ¼ q; q¼ ð2Þ
q p
ranging from 1 (for a flat-edge) to 2 (for a crack). Fig. 7 shows
a schematic rounded-tip V-notch and its polar coordinate sys- where ‘‘2a’’ is the notch angle and q is the notch tip radius.
tem. The origin of the coordinate is located at the distance r0 The NSIF can be determined for various notch angles and dif-
from the notch tip on the notch bisector line. ferent notch radii as [19]:

Table 4 – Fracture loads obtained from experiments (all loads are in N).
2a = 30 (deg.) 2a = 60 (deg.) 2a = 90 (deg.)
q = 1 (mm) q = 2 (mm) q = 4 (mm) q = 1 (mm) q = 2 (mm) q = 4 (mm) q = 1 (mm) q = 2 (mm) q = 4 (mm)

RV-TPB 153 181 261 162 196 292 162 190 305
163 195 291 174 209 327 170 200 315
157 189 317 170 216 345 166 212 326
RV-SCB 512 587 638 471 558 667 469 549 591
542 633 685 490 577 726 532 572 614
568 620 718 508 602 801 550 630 694
RV-BD 1893 1890 2057 1379 1758 1688 787 960 1110
1939 2060 2204 1452 1574 1932 1004 1080 1250
1875 2119 2023 1485 1606 1545 938 940 1060
2260 CARBON 4 8 ( 2 0 1 0 ) 2 2 5 5 –2 2 6 5


According to Fig. 8, the parameters dc and dc are the sizes of
critical distance measured from the notch tip and from the
origin of coordinate system, respectively. Considering the
requirements of MS criterion, brittle fracture occurs for a
rounded-tip V-notch when
Z dc
1
rhh ðr; 0Þ dr ¼ ðrhh Þc ð5Þ
dc r0

Substituting Eq. (4) into Eq. (5) gives

Z dc  l1 k1 !
1 KV;qI r
pffiffiffiffiffiffi 1þ nhh ð0Þ dr ¼ ðrhh Þc ð6Þ
dc r0 2pr1k1 r0

By simplifying Eq. (6), one obtains

Z dc Z  !
KV;q
I dr nhh ð0Þ dc l1 1
pffiffiffiffiffiffi þ r dr ¼ dc ðrhh Þc ð7Þ
2p r0 r1k1 rl01 k1 r0

Fig. 7 – Rounded-tip V-notch and its polar coordinate After the necessary integrations in Eq. (7) and by consider-
system. ing that at the instance of fracture, the NSIF and the tangen-
tial stress should be equal to the notch fracture toughness
pffiffiffiffiffiffi rhh ðr0 ; 0Þ 1k (KV;q
Ic ) and (rhh)c, respectively, one can write
KV;q
I ¼ 2p r 1 ð3Þ h i
1 þ x1 0 KV;q k KV;q nhh ð0Þ   l1 
Ic
p ffiffiffiffiffiffi dc 1  rk01 þ pIc
ffiffiffiffiffiffi dc  rl01 ¼ dc ðrhh Þc ð8Þ
In Eq. (3), rhh is the tangential stress and x1 is an auxiliary k1 2p l1 2p rl01 k1
parameter given in Ref. [19]. Now, KV;q
Ic can be obtained from Eq. (8) as
As mentioned earlier, the experimental results demon- pffiffiffiffiffiffi
strated that for all the tested graphite specimens, fracture 2pðrhh Þc dc
KV;q
Ic ¼
h i   l1  ð9Þ
 k1
was in a brittle manner and the load–displacement curves
1
k1
dc  r0 þ nhhl1ð0Þ
k1
k1 dc  rl01
l1 r0
were linear. Therefore, in the next section a failure criterion
is described based on the linear elastic stress distribution Note that the critical parameter (rhh)c is a material property
around a rounded-tip V-notch for estimating the fracture and is commonly considered to be the tensile strength of the
toughness in the notched graphite specimens. material rt. This is because the final fracture for a specimen
subjected to tensile loading will takes place only when the
molecular bonds of the material are broken. This condition
4. Brittle fracture criterion
can be assumed to be valid for both defective (cracked or
Similar to the well-known equation KI = KIc for brittle fracture notched) and non-defective samples. The only difference be-
in cracked specimens, an equation can be used for the onset tween a notched or cracked specimen and a flawless one is
of fracture in V-notched component as KV;q ¼ KV;q V;q that, for the defected sample, the stress gradient in the vicin-
I Ic where KIc is
V;q
called the notch fracture toughness. While KI can be calcu- ity of the notch tip is very high and hence the local stress
lated from the finite element (FE) analysis of notch, the notch reaches rt under lower values of the load.
fracture toughness should be determined either from a frac- The critical distance dc is considered to be similar to the
ture test on a similar notched component or by an appropri- distance used in the past by Seweryn [21] for sharp cracks
ate criterion which makes use of other material properties as follows
of graphite. Therefore, the elastic stresses described earlier
are used in this section to derive an equation for estimating
the notch fracture toughness of rounded-tip V-notched
graphite components from a fracture criterion called the MS
criterion which has been recently proposed by the authors
in Ref. [20].
According to the MS criterion, fracture occurs when the
average value of the tangential stresses over a specified criti-
cal distance dc reaches a critical value (rhh)c. Under mode I
loading, fracture initiates along the notch bisector line (where
h = 0) due to the symmetry in geometry and loading condi-
tions. The tangential stress along the notch bisector (h = 0)
can be written in terms of r as:
"  l1 k1 #
KV;q r
rhh ðr; 0Þ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiI 1þ nhh ð0Þ ð4Þ
2pr1k1 r0

Two geometrical parameters dc and dc are used here for Fig. 8 – Rounded-tip V-notch with critical distances
defining the critical distance associated with the MS criterion. associated with the MS criterion.
 CARBON 4 8 ( 20 1 0 ) 2 2 5 5–22 6 5 2261

 2
2 KIc (a)
dc ¼ ð10Þ Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion)
p ðrhh Þc 2α = 30 (deg.)
3 Experimental Results (RV-BD)
According to Fig. 2, the following expression is valid

KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]


dc ¼ dc þ r0 ð11Þ

If the plane-strain fracture toughness (KIc) and the tensile 2

strength (rt) of material are known, one can easily determine


the critical distances dc and dc from Eqs. (10) and (11), respec-
tively. On the other hand, the eigenvalues k1 and l1 are known 1
for any notch angle [17]. Consequently, by substituting critical
distances, eigenvalues and other relevant known parameters
into Eq. (9), one can directly compute the notch fracture
0
toughness for rounded-tip V-shaped notches using the MS
0 1 2 3 4 5
criterion. Eq. (9) indicates that unlike the plane-strain fracture
Notch Radius (mm)
toughness in crack problems, the notch fracture toughness
depends on the notch geometry parameters like the notch an-
(b) Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion)
gle and the notch tip radius.
3 Experimental Results (RV-SCB) 2α = 30 (deg.)

KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]

5. Results and discussion
2
In this section, the variations of notch fracture toughness ver-
sus the notch tip radius obtained theoretically using Eq. (9)
are compared with the relevant values of the notch fracture
toughness determined experimentally through our fracture 1

tests on graphite. The experimental results for notch fracture

toughness are found from the critical NSIF that correspond to
fracture loads for the test specimens. 0
In order to determine the critical values of the NSIF (i.e. 0 1 2 3 4 5
KV;q
Ic ), it is required to create a FE model for each of the tested Notch Radius (mm)
specimens under its relevant fracture load. Then for each of
these FE models, the value of the tangential stress rhh at the (c) Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion)
notch tip (rhh(r0, 0)) is obtained from the FE results. The 3 Experimental Results (RV-TPB) 2α = 30 (deg.)
numerical values of the parameters r0, k1 and x1 which are
KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]

known for each test specimen together with the computed

value of rhh(r0, 0) are substituted into Eq. (3) and the experi-
mental value of KV;q 2
Ic is computed.
Fig. 9 shows the variation of KV;qIc versus the notch tip ra-
dius predicted using Eq. (9) for the V-notched graphite speci-
mens together with the experimental results. Fig. 9a–c 1
shows the results for the RV-BD, RV-SCB and RV-TPB speci-
mens, respectively, and the notch angle is 30 (deg.) for all
these specimens. Figs. 10 and 11 show similar results for
0
the notch angles of 60 and 90 (deg.), respectively.
0 1 2 3 4 5
The percentage discrepancies between the results of the
Notch Radius (mm)
MS criterion and the mean values of the experimental results
are summarized in Table 5 for various notch angles and differ- Fig. 9 – Variations of KV;q
versus the notch tip radius for V-
Ic
ent notch tip radii. notched graphite specimens with an opening angle of 30
As presented in Table 5, the maximum discrepancy of 9% (deg.) together with the experimental results for (a) RV-BD
is for the RV-BD specimen with the notch angle of 60 (deg.) specimen, (b) RV-SCB specimen and (c) RV-TPB specimen.
and the notch tip radius of 2 mm. Meanwhile, the mean dis-
crepancy is less than 7% for all the specimens indicating that
the accuracy of the MS criterion in predicting KV;qIc for graphite As mentioned earlier, the stress field derived in Ref. [17] is
V-notched components is very good. an approximate solution that its accuracy is decreased when
A review of Table 5 indicates that except for two cases (i.e. the ratio q/a increases [17]. Since the notch length a was fixed
RV-BD and RV-SCB specimens with the notch angle of 60 in each type of specimens (e.g. the notch length for the RV-BD
(deg.)), the discrepancy between the theoretical and the specimens was 15 mm), the ratio q/a increases for higher val-
experimental results is slightly increased, as the notch tip ra- ues of notch tip radius.
dius q increases. This can be attributed to the accuracy of the It should be underlined that for V-notches having rather
stress field used in this research to develop the MS criterion. large ratios of q/a, only the mathematical formulation given
2262 CARBON 4 8 ( 2 0 1 0 ) 2 2 5 5 –2 2 6 5

4 5
(a) Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion)
(a) Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion)
Experimental Results (RV-BD) 2α = 60 (deg.) Experimental Results (RV-BD) 2α = 90 (deg.)
4
KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]

KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]

3

1
1

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

Notch Radius (mm) Notch Radius (mm)

(b) 4 Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion)

(b) 5
Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion)
Experimental Results (RV-SCB) 2α = 60 (deg.) Experimental Results (RV-SCB)
2α = 90 (deg.)
4
KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]

KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]

3

1
1

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

Notch Radius (mm) Notch Radius (mm)

5
(c) 4
(c) Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion)
Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion)
Experimental Results (RV-TPB)
2α = 60 (deg.)
Experimental Results (RV-TPB) 2α = 90 (deg.)
4
KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]
KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]

2
2

1 1

0
0 0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
Notch Radius (mm)
Notch Radius (mm)
Fig. 11 – Variations of KV;q
Ic versus the notch tip radius for V-
Fig. 10 – Variations of KV;q
versus the notch tip radius for V-
Ic
notched graphite specimens with an opening angle of 90
notched graphite specimens with an opening angle of 60
(deg.) together with the experimental results for (a) RV-BD
(deg.) together with the experimental results for (a) RV-BD
specimen, (b) RV-SCB specimen and (c) RV-TPB specimen.
specimen, (b) RV-SCB specimen and (c) RV-TPB specimen.

It is noteworthy that a higher fracture load dose not neces-

in Ref. [17] for the notch stresses becomes less accurate and sarily results in a larger value of KV;q
Ic because the fracture load
not the MS criterion itself. Therefore, for practical conditions depends not only on the V-notch geometry parameters (i.e.
where a notch of rather large q/a exists within a polycrystal- the notch angle and the notch tip radius) but also on the
line graphite component, one can obtain the tangential stress overall geometry and loading conditions in the notched
directly from FE analysis and not from the simplified Eq. (4). specimen. For example, both KV;q Ic and the fracture load in
The MS criterion then should be used in association with the RV-SCB and RV-TPB specimens are increased, as the notch
these FE results to estimate the fracture load. angle increases. But when the notch angle becomes larger in
 CARBON 4 8 ( 20 1 0 ) 2 2 5 5–22 6 5
Table 5 – The percentage discrepancies between the results of the MS criterion and the mean values of the experimental
results for various notch angles and different notch tip radii.
Notch angle (deg.) Specimen Discrepancy (%)
q = 1 (mm)
30 RV-BD 1.3
30 RV-SCB 1.2
30 RV-TPB 1.3
60 RV-BD 3 9
60 RV-SCB 0.7
60 RV-TPB 2.8
90 RV-BD 5.3
90 RV-SCB 3.7
90 RV-TPB 0.2
the RV-BD specimen, the fracture load (unlike the notch frac-
ture toughness KV;q Ic ) decreases.
Fig. 12a–c represents the results of the MS criterion to-
gether with the experimental results of all the three different
specimens for notch angles of 30, 60 and 90 (deg.), respec-
tively. As shown in Fig. 12, the three sets of experimental re-
sults are in very good agreement. Therefore, one can
arbitrarily utilize any of the three proposed specimens in or-
der to measure KV;q Ic for graphite components. Moreover, the
MS criterion is independent of the specimen type and esti-
mates the fracture resistance in all of the tested specimens
well.
It is well-known that some of the polycrystalline graphites
exhibit nonlinear stress–strain responses in a standard ten-
sion (or compression) test conducted on a plain test
specimen. When using a plain specimen with no stress con-
centration, a considerable volume of material often under-
goes nonlinear deformation before final failure. This may
give rise to a significantly nonlinear stress–strain curve for
the tested materials. However, in test specimens containing
a stress concentrator (like a crack or notch); the material
non-linearity is often localized only around the crack or notch
tip and the load–displacement curve can sometimes be linear
even for the same material. In such conditions, a fracture cri-
terion like the MS criterion is anticipated to be still applicable
as long as the notched specimen fails in a brittle manner with
a nearly linear load–displacement curve.
The presence of rounded-tip notches is sometimes inevita-
ble in the design and manufacturing of graphite components.
These notches make the graphite component more vulnera-
ble to brittle fracture. Conducting a fracture test on the full
scale component is often expensive and inefficient. There-
fore, it is preferred to determine the load bearing capacity of
the notched graphite components either by an appropriate
theoretical model or through experiments on simple and
inexpensive laboratory specimens. For a theoretical model,
the NSIF KV;qI was used in this paper as a parameter for char-
acterizing the stress field near the notch tip where the initia-
tion of brittle fracture is expected to occur. It was suggested
that under the critical load corresponding to brittle fracture,
the NSIF reaches a critical value called the notch fracture
toughness KV;q Ic . While fracture toughness for graphite compo-
nents containing a sharp crack is considered as a constant
material property, it was shown both theoretically and exper-
imentally that the notch fracture toughness in graphite de-
2263
Mean discrepancy (%)
q = 2 (mm) q = 4 (mm)
4 5 3.5
2.5 5.4 3
4.8 7.4 4.5
8.8 7
8 6.5 5
5 7.5 5
6.7 8 6.5
4 5.7 4.5
4.5 5.7 3.5
pends on the notch geometry parameters i.e. the notch tip
radius q and the notch angle 2a. In order to predict the initia-
tion of fracture using the relation KV;q
I ¼ KV;q V;q
Ic , the NSIF KI is
calculated from the stress analysis of notched component
and the notch fracture toughness KV;q Ic can be determined
either experimentally or theoretically. For an experimental
determination of KV;q Ic in a V-notched graphite component,
the fracture test should be conducted on an appropriate test
specimen made from the same graphite material and also
with the same geometry parameters q and 2a. Meanwhile, it
is important to make sure that for fixed values of q and 2a
the values of notch fracture toughness which are obtained
for a specific graphite material but from different test speci-
mens are almost the same. In other words, the results ob-
tained for KV;q
Ic are repeatable when different test specimens
are employed. This subject was studied in this research and
the experimental results shown in Fig. 12a–c for three totally
different test specimens confirmed the repeatability of the
experimental results for KV;qIc . Therefore, it is expected that
the notch fracture toughness in the actual (or full scale)
notched graphite component is also the same as the one ob-
tained from the laboratory specimens as long as the similarity
in the corresponding values of q and 2a are taken into consid-
eration. In addition to the experimental technique for deter-
mination of KV;q Ic , one can derive the notch fracture
toughness theoretically using the MS criterion and its simpli-
fied relation expressed as Eq. (9). In order to use Eq. (9), the
plane-strain fracture toughness (KIc) and the tensile strength
(rt) should be known for the related graphite material. How-
ever, these material properties have been reported in litera-
ture for various graphite materials since many researchers
have already studied the fracture behavior of polycrystalline
graphites in the presence of sharp cracks. If the values of KIc
and rt are known, the use of Eq. (9) is more convenient be-
cause it prevents unnecessary time and expenses required
for conducting experiments on an appropriate V-notched lab-
oratory specimen. Figs. 9–12 demonstrate that the agreement
between the experimental results and the results obtained
from Eq. (9) is very good.
It is worth mentioning that several fracture criteria have
been suggested based on the critical distance theory for
investigating brittle fracture in V-notched specimens. Some
of these criteria have been reviewed and investigated in Ref.
[20]. For example, the point stress method [20] can also be
used for estimating the fracture load in the V-notched graph-
2264 CARBON 4 8 ( 2 0 1 0 ) 2 2 5 5 –2 2 6 5

ical distance dc. The critical distance depends on the material

(a) Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion)
Experimental Results (RV-BD) 2α = 30 (deg.) properties of graphite in a macro-scale (i.e. fracture tough-
3
Experimental Results (RV-SCB) ness KIc and tensile strength rt) as shown in Eq. (10). However,
KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]

Experimental Results (RV-TPB)

it can also be related to the micro-structural characteristics of
polycrystalline graphites like the mean grain size or the per-
2
cent porosity. Earlier work on fracture behavior of cracked
components fabricated from polycrystalline ceramics shows
that the critical distance is often larger for materials having
1 larger grain sizes [22]. Therefore, if the graphite sample tested
in this research is considered to have a medium-size grain,
the fine-grain and coarse-grain polycrystalline graphites
0
would be expected to have smaller and larger critical dis-
0 1 2 3 4 5 tances, respectively, than the critical distance value used in
Notch Radius (mm) this research.
Moreover, experimental studies conducted by Salazar et al.
4
(b) Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion)
[23] suggest that the fracture toughness of polycrystalline
Experimental Results (RV-BD) 2α = 60 (deg.) graphites are adversely influenced by the pore and grain sizes.
Experimental Results (RV-SCB) This has been shown for example in Ref. [23] for two different
KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]

3 Experimental Results (RV-TPB)

polycrystalline graphites namely a coarse-grain UC28 and a
fine-grain EM22.
It should be pointed out that in this research the applica-
2
tion of MS criterion was investigated only for one type of
polycrystalline graphite. Therefore, it would be valuable to
investigate brittle fracture in V-notched specimens made of
1
substantially different types of graphite and to examine if
the MS criterion is still applicable when parameters like grain
type, grain size, porosity, etc. are varied.
0
0 1 2 3 4 5

Notch Radius (mm)

6. Conclusions
5
(c) Theoretical Predictions (MS criterion) Brittle fracture in V-notched polycrystalline graphite speci-
Experimental Results (RV-BD) 2α = 90 (deg.)
mens was investigated both experimentally and theoretically
4 Experimental Results (RV-SCB)
KV, ρIc [ MPa m (1-λ1) ]

Experimental Results (RV-TPB) under pure mode I loading conditions. Fracture tests were
conducted on three different laboratory specimens to obtain
3 the notch fracture toughness for a polycrystalline graphite.
Since the three sets of experimental results were consistent
2
well, one can arbitrarily use any of the RV-BD, RV-SCB and
RV-TPB specimens to determine the notch fracture toughness
in isotropic polycrystalline graphite materials. The MS crite-
1
rion was also extended to rounded-tip V-notched domains
in order to estimate the fracture toughness of notched graph-
0 ite components. It was shown that the experimental results
0 1 2 3 4 5 were in very good agreements with the results estimated by
Notch Radius (mm) the MS criterion. It was also found that the notch fracture
toughness is not a constant material property and depends
Fig. 12 – Theoretical curve of the MS criterion and the
on the notch geometry parameters i.e. the notch angle and
experimental results obtained from the three specimens RV-
the notch tip radius.
BD, RV-SCB and RV-TPB. (a) 2a = 30 (deg.), (b) 2a = 60 (deg.)
and (c) 2a = 90 (deg.).

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