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2.1 Failure Mechanisms
2.1 Failure Mechanisms
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Failure in material
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Different modes of Failure
Failure of a material component is the loss of ability to function normally or to
perform the intended job.
Different ways of failure:
1. Excessive elastic deformation: Controlled by design and elastic modulus
of the material. e.g. : buckling.
2. Excessive plastic deformation: Controlled by yield strength of the material
e.g. : loss of shape, creep and / or stress – rupture at elevated temperatures.
3. Fracture: It involves complete disruption of continuity of a component–
under static load : brittle or ductile,
4. Fatigue: This mode in which most machine parts fail in service under
fluctuating / cyclic load.
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Fracture
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Fracture
Fracture is defined as the separation or fragmentation of a solid body into two
or more parts under the action of stress.
Fracture is classified based on several characteristic features:
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Ref: Ashby et a.. Acta
Metallurgica 27 (1979)
699-729
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Griffith’s theory of brittle fracture
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Dislocation theory of brittle fracture
The process of brittle fracture consist of three stages:
1. Plastic deformation which involves the pileup of dislocation along
their slip plane at an obstacle.
2. the buildup of shear stress at the head of pile up to nucleate a
microcrack.
3. in some cases the stored elastic strain energy drives microcrack to
complete fracture without further dislocation movement in the pile
up.
More typically in metals, a distinct growth stage is observed in which
an increase in stress is required to propagate the microcrack. Thus, the
fracture stress is the stress required to propagate the microcracks
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Dislocation theory of brittle fracture
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Notch effect
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Ductile Fracture
Ductile fracture in tension occurs after appreciable plastic deformation.
It is usually preceded by necking.
It exhibits three stages-
i. formation of cavities
ii. growth of cavities
iii. final failure involving rapid crack propagation at about 45o to the
tensile axis.
The large energy absorbed before ductile fracture.
Fractography of ductile fracture reveals numerous spherical dimples
separated by thin walls on the fractured surface.
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Ductile Fracture
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Ductile and Brittle Fracture
Stress strain curve showing brittle and tensile
failure showcasing large energy absorbed
before ductile fracture while less energy
absorbed before brittle fracture
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Brittle Fracture
Brittle fracture in takes place with little or no preceding plastic deformation.
It occurs, often at unpredictable levels of stress, by rapid crack propagation.
Crack propagates nearly perpendicular to the direction of applied tensile
stress, and hence called cleavage fracture.
Most often brittle fracture occurs through grains i.e. Transgranular.
Three stages of brittle fracture-
(i) Plastic deformation that causes dislocation pile-ups at obstacles.
(ii) Micro-crack nucleation as a result of build-up of shear stresses.
(iii) Eventual crack propagation under applied stress aided by stored
elastic energy.
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Brittle Fracture
Failure of Titanic
https://www.centexbel.be/en/testing/charpy-izod-impact-tests
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Effect of variables on rupture in impact test
Velocity: The maximum velocity of striker of impact test machine should be less than
the critical velocity of material to be tested.
Specimen: Standard specimen show ductile fracture , while at low temperature
specimen show brittle fracture.
Notch Effect: As sharpness of notch increases the energy of rupture decreases.
Temperature: Ductile to brittle transition depends on temperature.
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Ductile to Brittle transition (DBT)
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Ductile to Brittle transition (DBT)
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Fatigue failure
It is observed that materials subjected to dynamic /repetitive/ fluctuating load
(stress) fail at a stress much lower than that required to cause fracture in a single
application of a load.
Structures subjected to repeated cyclic loadings can undergo progressive
damage which takes place due to propagation of cracks. This damage is called
fatigue
It is estimated that fatigue accounts for ~90% of all service failures due to
mechanical causes. Corrosion being the other major cause of failures.
Usually, fatigue failures occur after considerable time of service.
The physical effect of a repeated load on a material is different from the static
load.
Failure always being brittle fracture regardless of whether the material is brittle
or ductile.
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Fatigue failure
Fatigue failure is usually initiated at a site of stress concentration (e.g. a notch in
the specimen or at crack site or at site of foreign inclusion).
In general fatigue is the human reaction of ‘tiredness’ due to repetitive work.
Fatigue testing is often conducted in bending or torsion mode
If the stress have a origin in thermal cycling, then the fatigue is called thermal
fatigue.
Three factors play an important role in fatigue failure:
(i) value of tensile stress (maximum)
(ii) magnitude of variation in stress
(iii) number of cycles
Fatigue also depends on their geometry and microstructure of the component.
Fatigue life also depends on stress concentrators and residual stress in the
material.
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Types of Cyclic Stresses
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Types of Cyclic Stresses
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Fatigue testing
Fatigue or endurance limit of a material is defined as the maximum amplitude of
completely reversed stress that the standard specimen can sustain for an
unlimited number of cycles without fatigue failure.
The results of these tests are plotted by means of an S–N curve.
The S–N curve is the graphical representation of stress amplitude (Sf ) versus the
number of stress cycles (N) before the fatigue failure on a log-log graph paper.
The fatigue life is defined as the number of stress cycles that the standard
specimen can complete during the test before the appearance of the first fatigue
crack.
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Fatigue testing
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S – N curve
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S – N curve
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Factors Influencing Fatigue
1.Loading
Nature and type of loading: -Axial tension, bending, torsion and combined
loading-Mean and Variable components in case of Repeated, Fluctuating
and Alternating loading and Frequency of loading and rest periods.
2. Geometry
Size effects and stress concentration.
3.Material
Composition, structure, directional properties and notch sensitivity.
4. Manufacturing
Surface finish, heat treatment, residual stresses.
5.Environment
Corrosion, high temperature, radiation. 30