Solid Mechanics EMM331

Ir. Dr. Feizal Yusof

Fracture Mechanics 1
Week 11-12 (6 hrs)

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WW 11 - Fracture
INTRODUCTION

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A video about fracture mechanics

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 Some keywords related to fracture
mechanics in the video
1. Brittle fracture
2. Brittle material – ferrous/ferritic metals (BCC
crystalline atomic structure) e.g. AISI1018
3. Ductile material – mild steel/austenitic metals
(FCC crystalline atomic structure) e.g AISI304
1. Ductile behaviour quantified by tensile
test à plastic deformation, cross-section
reduced, longer and slimmer specimen.
4. Notched specimen – stress concentrated,
caused high stress lead to localised yielding at
root but other area stress low, no reduction of
area, failure instantaneous.
5. Brittle crack, crack velocity at 1km/s.
6. A notch upsets evenly distributed stress flow in
a specimen.
7. Brittle fracture starts at stress raisers such as
notch, hole, cover plate, lifting lug.
8. Fracture toughness à resistance to brittle
fracture. Can be quantified through Charpy test.
9. Charpy is energy is required to break small std
specimen resistance to initiation and crack
propagation.
10. To avoid fracture à Charpy impact energy is
specified in design but is not correct now bcos
fracture is affected by size effects. Big specimen
may experience brittle fracture even for
materials that can be ductile in small specimen.
Some more explanation related to points 2 & 3
a) Fracture mechanics in materials ultimately
extends to ease of dislocation movement. For
samples in which dislocation motion in
uninhibited, the material may accommodate an
applied load through plastic deformation.
b) For face-centered-cubic (FCC) metals, slip
systems allow dislocations to move very easily
along the close-packed planes.
c) However, for body-centered-cubic (BCC) metals,
there are no close-packed planes that allow for
easy dislocation migration, and thus dislocation
movement in these materials (BCC metals)
require a thermal activation in order to slip.
d) Otherwise, the material accommodates the
applied stress through more drastic
mechanisms, such as breaking of bonds.
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 Some keywords related to fracture
mechanics in the video Some more explanation related to points 10 & 11
9. Temperature is crucial in ferritic steel. a) Fig a demonstrate effect of temperature in low-
10. Brittle fracture occur at low temperature. strength steel.
11. In BCC metals, at high temp, higher Charpy
energy, but at low temp, low Charpy energy
(remember Titanic sinking in 1912!! Recent
research showed that hull of ship was made
with very brittle steel). Fig a

12. Brittle fracture occur in big test specimen (bcos

size of specimen inhibit plastic deformation at
the crack tip). b) Titanic video on the mechanics of sinking:
https://youtu.be/FSGeskFzE0s
13. Flaw measurement of fracture using CTOD
(Crack tip opening displacement) approach.
14. In UK, the assessment of fracture is based on
standard called BS7910 and BS7448.
15. Temp, thickness, fracture toughness, loading
rates, residual stresses, size of defects, life
operating conditions à are key factors in design
stage to ensure steel structures are safe from
Brittle fracture.

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 Introduction
1. Fracture is concerned with the b. In 1988, Aloha Boeing 737-200 fuselage
experienced an explosive structural
initiation and propagation of crack or failure to its main fuselage in mid-air
cracks in the material until the extent which were traced to crevice corrosion
of cracking is such that the applied and fatigue of fuselage plate.
loading can no longer be sustained by
the component or structure.
2. Examples of defect
a. Oil tanker breaking into 2 due to a crack in
its girth which increase and caused
untenable load bearing in the structure

Fig 2
c. Plastic package containing nuts/candy
comes with a small incision or notch to
ease tearing of packaging.

Fig 3

Fig 1 6
 Introduction
3. Most components or structures will b. Defects introduced during fabrication
contain some crack-like flaw/defect
by the time manufacturing is
completed in spite of rigorous
inspection procedures. Among the
stages of defects incurred in the life
Fig 5
of materials are:
a) Primary production defects

c. Defects introduced in service

Load: Environment
Steady, repeated,
Fig 4a impact
Corrosive?

deformation sepa ration

rupture by crack propagation

elastic
overall local continuous intermittent
plastic
collapsed

Time scale temperature

Short; long Maintenance :
Good or bad
jobs

Fig 4b 7
Fig 6
 Introduction
4. Therefore, a designer must try to
design for non-propagation or, at
next best, controlled propagation.
5. In the latter case (point 3c) normal
in-service inspections should enable
the presence of growing cracks to be
detected. This will be treated as a
topic in fatigue (discussed as the last
topic in EMM331)
6. Cracks which propagate in an
uncontrolled manner (Brittle or
cleavage failure) at very high velocity
(𝑣!"#!$ =1km/s) through materials is a
situation of greater danger in service
and is the central theme of this
fracture mechanics lecture.

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 Theories of fracture
1. Current techniques for fracture 5. When the major axis 2b becomes
analysis can be divided into 2: smaller, and the major 2a axis
– Elastic approaches (G, K) – applicable to remain, the hole becomes a sharp
Brittle fracture or Cleavage failure. ellipse (Fig 8)
– Elastic-plastic approaches (CTOD, J- 𝜎!"#
integral, R-curve) – applicable to Ductile
fracture.
2

2. In this course we are going to look 2

only into G (Strain energy release)

and K (Stress Intensity Factor)
approaches in fracture mechanics. 𝜎!"# Fig 8

3. A defect like a hole in an infinite plate 6. When the radius of the ellipse on the
is shown in Fig 7: major axis 𝜌 becomes vanishingly
𝜎!"# small, the ellipse become a sharp
crack (Fig 9).
𝜎!"#
"!"# #
𝜎#$% SCF:𝐾! = =1+2 … . (1)
"$%! $

𝜎% h
=1+2 … . (2)
𝜎!"#
Fig 7 𝜎&'( 𝜌
4. Where the length 2a is the major axis A

and 2b is minor axis of the hole Fig 9 9

𝜎!"#
 Griffith criterion
7. Where smax is maximum stress at the 10. Using brittle materials such as Mica and
tip and s is the remote stress acting in Glass, Griffith proposed a theory based
the plate, h = a (from Fig 9). on energy of crack advance that the
8. As r®0 the defect becomes a crack, energy for crack to grow 𝑈 must be
but smax®¥ which would suggest that greater than energy to form new crack
a material with a crack would not be surfaces 𝑆:
able to withstand any applied forces. 𝜕𝑈/𝜕𝑎 > 𝜕𝑆/𝜕𝑎
9. This is contrary to what is observed so 11. He proposed that change in U is given
A. A. Griffith (1920) developed a by:
concept to explain how a stable crack 1 𝜕𝑈 𝜋𝜎 ! 𝑎𝐵
could exist in a material in an approach − = .....(i)
𝐵 𝜕𝑎 𝐸"
called the Griffith criterion. 12. While the change in crack surface in
terms of surface energy per unit area 𝛾:
1 𝜕𝑆
= 2𝛾 .....(ii)
𝐵 𝜕𝑎
13. Equating (i) and (ii) gives
2𝛾 𝐸′
𝜎# = .....(iii)
𝜋𝑎
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 Strain energy release rate, G
1. Griffith criterion was limited to brittle
materials, but Irwin (1948) proposed
a change to the criterion from surface
energy 𝛾 to plastic work 𝐺 developed
a tip of crack.
2. For a through crack of length 2a in an
infinite body of unit thickness, as
shown in Fig 10.
Fig 10
3. The surface energy per unit area Us
stored in the material due to the
formation of the crack is given by:
.....(3)
4. where g = surface energy per unit
area.
5. Irwin proposed, in the context of the
fracture of brittle materials this term
is replaced by g = G/2, where G is
energy absorbed per unit area of
crack (G refers to the area of crack
which will be half the new surface
area).
6. Thus eqn (3) may be written:
.....(4)
7. From the concept of elastic strain
energy, the elastic energy Ue released
by the formation of the crack is given
by:
.....(5)
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 Strain energy release rate, G
8. where s(x) is the stress distribution
in the vicinity of the crack and D(x,a)
is the vertical opening of the crack.
9. It can be shown that for the through
crack of length 2a in an infinite plate,
Fig.11.
.....(6)
Fig 11
10. Where k=(1-n2) for plane strain and k
= 1 for plane stress and n is Poisson’s
ratio.
11. Thus the surface energy which is
developed in the material is
increasing linearly with crack length,
whereas the energy released by the
formation of the crack increases with
crack length (see Fig 12).
Fig 12
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 Strain energy release rate, G
12. The net energy in the presence of the 14. Thus the critical condition is dU/da =
crack is thus the mathematical 0 which occurs at point A in Fig 12
summation of the surface energy Us and hence the critical crack length a
and the energy released Ue. is defined:
13. Irwin proposed that the threshold
between a stable crack and an
unstable crack occurs an increment
of crack growth causes more energy
to be released than can be absorbed 15. This then reduces to:
in the material. .....(7)

16. These eqns are an expression of the

conditions for fast fracture in a brittle
material.
17. Gc is a material property known as
the critical strain energy release
rate, toughness or crack extension
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Fig 12 force with unit J/m2.
 Strain energy release rate, G
18. A high value of Gc means it is hard to
propagate cracks in the material for
example:
– Copper ; Gc = 103 kJ/m2
– Glass; Gc = 0.01 kJ/m2
19. Irwin (1957) related the energy of
crack advance G to the stress
developed at the crack tip 𝜎 and
prompted a development of a new
approach called the Stress intensity
approach, K ,discussed in the next
lecture.

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 Examples
Problem 1:
Determine what size of defect will cause
a fracture of glass before it reaches its
ideal strength. Defect-free thin whiskers
of glass can reach strengths of 3600
MN/m2, but the toughness Gc is only 0.01
kJ/m2. The modulus of glass is 69 GN/m2.
Problem 2:
The fracture stress of a large sheet of
steel with a central crack of 40 mm is 400
MN/m2. What is the fracture stress of a
similar sheet with a crack of 100 mm?
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 Examples - answers
Problem 1: Problem 2:
Determine what size of defect will cause The fracture stress of a large sheet of
a fracture of glass before it reaches its steel with a central crack of 40 mm is 400
ideal strength. Defect-free thin whiskers MN/m2. What is the fracture stress of a
of glass can reach strengths of 3600 similar sheet with a crack of 100 mm?
MN/m2, but the toughness Gc is only 0.01
kJ/m2. The modulus of glass is 69 GN/m2. Given:
2a1 = 40 𝑚𝑚
𝜎' = 400 𝑀𝑁/𝑚"
2a2 = 100 mm
Given: From eg 7 assume plane stress condition
𝐺! = 0.01𝑘𝐽/𝑚" bcos sheet of steel,
𝐸#$%&& = 69 𝐺𝑁/𝑚"
𝜎'(#$%&& = 3600 𝑀𝑁/𝑚" 𝑎( 𝜋𝜎(% = 𝑎% 𝜋𝜎%%
From eg 7 assume plane stress condition, 𝑎( 𝜎(% = 𝑎% 𝜎%%
bcos thin whiskers %
𝐸𝐺! 𝑎( 𝜎(
𝑎= 𝜎%% =
𝜋𝜎 % 𝑎%
𝑎 = 1.69×10&' 𝑚 𝑎( 𝜎(%
𝑎 = 170 𝜇𝑚 𝜎% =
𝑎%
= 252.9 𝑀𝑁/𝑚%
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 What did we learn today?
1. Fracture mechanics is the study of 5. The G approach states that :
materials performance influenced by 𝜋𝜎 % 𝑎
defect or crack. 𝐺= 𝑘′
𝐸
2. Defect is in the form of crack that in 6. Where 𝑘′ is 1 for plane stress and for
mathematical form is defined as a plane strain 𝑘′ is (1 − n2).
sharp ellipse with a major axis 2𝑎
7. 𝐺! is a critical strain energy release
that defined the length of the crack. rate of a material and is a material
Usually the crack assessed as half of property.
the full length as 𝑎.
3. Several theories have been proposed
and for brittle fracture, the widely
used approach are the G (strain
energy release rate) and the K (stress
intensity factor approach).
4. Both of the theories can be related to
each other and it is useful because
they allowed analyst to state the
fracture in terms of the energetics of
crack advance and the stress state at
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the crack tip
Check out Exercise 4 (a), (b) and (c) problems on e-learning
at week 11
- You have to do within 20 mins
- You need to submit your solution on power point and
provide a recorded voice to explain your answers to the
questions.

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