Middle East Technical University

Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME 498 Mechanical Characterization of Materials

4. Fracture Toughness

These slides are partly based on the lecture notes of Dr. Rıza Gürbüz and Dr. Ergin Tönük.
Some figures and explanations are from Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction by Callister (2014).

METU ME 498 Characterization of Materials Fall 2019 Dr. Sezer Özerinç 1

Basics of Fracture
• Simple fracture is the separation of a body into two or more pieces in
response to an imposed stress,
• in static conditions (i.e., constant or slowly changing with time)
• at temperatures that are low relative to the melting temperature of the material.
• Any fracture process involves two steps:
1. Crack formation
2. Crack Propagation
• The mode of fracture is highly dependent on the mechanism of crack
propagation.

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Ductile Fracture
• Ductile fracture is characterized by extensive plastic deformation in the vicinity
of an advancing crack.
• The process proceeds relatively slowly.
• Such a crack is often said to be stable— that is, it resists any further extension
unless there is an increase in the applied stress.
• In this fracture mode, typically there is evidence of significant deformation at
the fracture surfaces.

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Ductile Fracture – Very Soft Metals
• The configuration shown in the figure is found
for extremely soft metals, such as pure gold
and lead at room temperature.
• We can also observe this behavior in other
metals, polymers, and inorganic glasses at
elevated temperatures.
• These highly ductile materials neck down to an
almost point fracture, showing virtually 100%
reduction in area.

Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction by Callister (2014).

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Ductile Fracture – Moderate Ductility
• The schematics shows the most common
type of tensile fracture profile for ductile
metals.
• Before fracture, only a moderate amount of
necking takes place.
• The fracture process occurs in several stages:
• Necking
• Formation of microvoids
• Coalescence of microvoids into a crack
• Propagation of the crack around the perimeter

Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction by Callister (2014).

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Ductile Fracture – Steps
• Necking (a): The first step is the formation of a
necking region, characteristic of ductile
materials.
• Formation of microvoids (b): After some
amount of necking, small cavities, or
microvoids start to form in the vicinity of the
neck.
• Coalescence of microvoids (c): As deformation
continues, these microvoids get bigger and
merge to form an elliptical crack, with its long
axis perpendicular to the loading direction.
• Crack propagation (d) Finally, fracture takes
place by the rapid propagation of a crack
around the outer perimeter of the neck. Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction by Callister (2014).

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Ductile Fracture – Cup and Cone
• The final step of the fracture (crack
propagation) takes place by shear
deformation at an angle of about 45 with
respect to the loading axis (the angle at
which the shear stress is a maximum).
• A fracture having this characteristic is
called a cup-and-cone fracture - the
mating surfaces look like a a cup and a
cone.
• The interior region of the fracture
surface has usually an irregular and
fibrous appearance, which is indicative
excessive plastic deformation.
Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction by Callister (2014).
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Ductile Fracture - Fractography
• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is commonly
used to investigate the fracture surfaces in detail.
Such investigations are called fractographic
examinations.
• The SEM images show the details of the fibrous
central region of a cup-and-cone type fractured
specimen.
• The surface consists of numerous spherical
“dimples”.
• Each dimple is one half of a microvoid that formed
and then separated during the fracture process.
• Fractographs provide valuable information in the
analyses of fracture, such as the fracture mode, the
stress state, and the site of crack initiation.
From R. W. Hertzberg, Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of
Engineering Materials, 3rd edition.
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Brittle Fracture
• Brittle fracture takes place without any
appreciable deformation, and by rapid
crack propagation.
• The direction of crack motion is very
nearly perpendicular to the direction of
the applied load.
• The fracture surface is relatively flat
one, as indicated in the figure.

Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction by Callister (2014).

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Brittle Fracture (a)

• Fracture surfaces of materials that fail in a

brittle manner have distinctive patterns.
• There is no sign of of gross plastic
deformation.
• In some steels, a series of V-shaped
“chevron” markings may form near the (b)
center of the fracture cross section that
point back toward the crack initiation site.
• Some other materials feature lines or
ridges that radiate from the origin of the
crack in a fan-like pattern.

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Fracture Toughness
• Fracture is responsible for a significant fraction of mechanical failures in
engineering systems.
• A material’s resistance to fracture is a very important property. We should
understand this property well for the reliable operation of engineering
components.
• Fracture toughness is a material’s resistance to brittle fracture, in the
presence of a crack. It is one of the most important mechanical properties of
materials.
• Tensile tests provide some useful information about the fracture behavior.
However, it does not directly provide the fracture toughness of a material.
• We need a different approach, based on the principles of fracture mechanics.
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Stress Distribution Near a Crack Tip
• Consider a specimen with an elliptical hole or
an elliptical notch.
• When F applies a tensile load to this
specimen, the tensile stress far away from
𝐹
the hole and the notch will be: 𝜎0 = ,
𝐴
where A is the cross-sectional area of the
specimen.
• However, as we get closer to the cracks, the
stress will increase due to the stress
concentration effect.
Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction by Callister (2014).
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Stress Distribution Near a Crack Tip – continued
• Using the theory of linear elasticity, we can determine the stress distribution
near a crack tip.
𝜎0 𝜋𝑎 𝜃 𝜃 3𝜃
𝜎𝑥 = cos 1 − 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑖𝑛
2𝜋𝑟 2 2 2
𝜎0 𝜋𝑎 𝜃 𝜃 3𝜃
𝜎𝑦 = cos 1 + 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑖𝑛
2𝜋𝑟 2 2 2
𝜎0 𝜋𝑎 𝜃 𝜃 3𝜃
𝜏𝑥𝑦 = sin cos cos
2𝜋𝑟 2 2 2
σ0 is the stress far away from the crack.
a is half of the crack width.
https://www.efunda.com/formulae/solid_mechanics/fracture_mechanics/fm_lefm_K.cfm
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Stress Intensity Factor, K
𝜎0 𝜋𝑎 𝜃 𝜃 3𝜃
• 𝜎𝑥 = cos 1− 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑖𝑛
2𝜋𝑟 2 2 2
• Note that the only term that depends on the
loading and crack configuration is 𝝈𝟎 𝝅𝒂
• We will call this term the stress intensity factor,
K. 𝐾 = 𝜎0 𝜋𝑎.
• Then we can write:
𝐾 𝜃 𝜃 3𝜃
• 𝜎𝑥 = cos 1 − 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑖𝑛
2𝜋𝑟 2 2 2
• Therefore, K provides the necessary
information for determining the stress state
around a crack. The remaining parameters, r
and θ are the spatial coordinates.
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Fracture Toughness, Kc
• Stress intensity factor, 𝐾 = 𝜎0 𝜋𝑎
• Note that K is not a constant, it is a parameter that increases with stress and
crack size.
• For a given material, when the K value exceeds a certain limit, the crack will
propagate and the material will fracture.
• This limit is defined as the fracture toughness, Kc.
• Fracture toughness is a material’s resistance to brittle fracture in the presence
of a crack. We can write:
• 𝐾𝑐 = 𝑌𝜎𝑐 𝜋𝑎 𝑜𝑟 𝑌𝜎 𝜋𝑎𝑐
• Y is a factor that depends on the specimen and loading geometry. It is usually
close to 1.
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Fracture Modes
• For relatively thin specimens, fracture
toughness, Kc depends on specimen
thickness.
• When the specimen thickness is much
greater than the crack dimensions,
conditions of plane strain apply and Kc
becomes independent of thickness.
• Plane strain means that the load operating
on a crack does not result in any strain
perpendicular to the front and back faces of
the specimen.
• It is standard to report plane strain fracture https://www.ndeed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCo

toughness values in the literature. llege/Materials/Mechanical/FractureToughness.htm

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Fracture Modes
• There are three main modes of fracture.
• Mode I is the most frequently measured and reported mode.
• The associated toughness values are reported as KIC, KIIC and KIIIC.

Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction by Callister (2014).

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Meaning of Fracture Toughness
• For a given fracture
toughness and load, there
exists a critical crack size.
• For a given fracture
toughness and crack size,
there exists a critical load.
• Exceeding any of these
critical values result in
fracture.

Plot by Prof. Dr. Rıza Gürbüz

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 Fracture Toughness of Some Common Materials

Materials Science and

Engineering: An
Introduction by
Callister (2014).

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How to Measure Fracture Toughness
• If a material exhibits little or no plasticity, then we can apply the principles of
linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). This makes the measurement
relatively easier.
• LEFM approach assumes that the stress field near the crack tip can be
accurately calculated by using the theory of elasticity (linear elasticity).
• One can use this approach by following the ASTM E399 – Standard Test
Method for Linear-Elastic Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness of Metallic
Materials.
• If a material shows significant amount of plasticity during fracture, then one
should use ASTM 1820 – Standard Test Method for Measurement of Fracture
Toughness. The associated procedures are a little more complicated and we
will not cover them in this course.

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 ASTM E-399 – Single-Edge Notched Beam Specimen
• ASTM E399 provides
two alternatives for
specimen geometry.
• Single edge notched
beam (SENB) is a
larger and simpler
geometry.

ASTM E-399

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 ASTM E-399 – Single-Edge Notched Beam Specimen Test Configuration
• The experiment can be performed by
using a universal testing machine.
• Roller pins support the specimen at two
ends.
• A ram applies load at the center and
bends the specimen.
• A displacement gauge measures the
crack mouth opening.

ASTM E-399

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 ASTM E-399 – Compact Tension Specimen
• Compact tension (CT) specimen has
smaller dimensions.
• It is the choice when the original
material is not large enough to
manufacture a single-edge notched
beam specimen.

ASTM E-399

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Specimen Orientation
• Some manufacturing processes such as
rolling result in anisotropic material
properties.
• In such cases, fracture toughness
specimens should be prepared in different
orientations.
• These orientations are labeled by two
letters: X – Y
• First letter indicates the crack plane, which
ASTM E-399
is the loading direction for mode I.
• Second letter indicates the crack growth
direction.
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Specimen Orientation - Example
• The figure shows specimens
prepared from a railroad rail, to
understand the fracture
toughness of different regions of
the structure / in different loading
directions.

Photos by Prof. Dr. Rıza Gürbüz

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Main Steps of Testing Procedure
1. Form a pre-crack by fatigue cycling
2. Load up to the point of fracture
3. Determine the crack size (a) and conditional load PQ from test data
4. Check for the validity of the test
5. If the test is valid, report the calculated KQ as mode I plane strain fracture
toughness, KIC.

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1. Form a Pre-Crack
• Even the narrowest machined notch cannot
simulate a natural crack well enough to
provide a satisfactory measurement of KIC.
• A naturally occuring fatigue crack should be
induced by cyclic loading.
• The crack size should be between 0.45W
and 0.55W, where W is the distance from
the center of the loading holes to the
opposite edge of the specimen.

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1. Form a Pre-Crack
• A notch should be machine to initiate the
fatigue crack in a controlled fashion.
• These notches are caled starter notches
and there exists various geometry
alternatives.
• Loads for pre-cracking should be
calculated by using the estimated
fracture toughness of the specimen.

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1. Form a Pre-Crack
• A sinusoidal load wave with a stress ratio
(R) between -1 and +0.1 is applied for
104-106 cycles.
• This means that the maximum tensile
stress should be %10 of the yield
strength of the material.
• The stress intensity factor (K) during
precracking should not exceed 80% that
of KQ.
• Check E399 standard for further details.

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2. Load to Fracture
• Depending on the specimen geometry, tensile load or bending load is applied,
until fracture takes place.
• A clip-on extensometer measures the crack opening displacement.

Photos by Prof. Dr. Rıza Gürbüz

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3. Determine the Crack Size Photo by Prof. Dr. Rıza Gürbüz

• Since the crack is further extended by

fatigue loading in step 1, it is not possible to
accurately measure the crack size before
the test.
• The crack size should be measured after the
test at three locations as shown in the
figure.
• The difference between the individual
measurements and the average should be
within 10% of the average. Machined fatigue unstable
notch pre-crack crack growth

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3. Determine the Conditional Load, PQ
• Determine Pmax and calculate
PQ as shown.
• Pmax is the maximum load
recorded during the test.
• PQ is the so-called conditional
load, that is equivalent to the
fracture load in the condition
that the test passes the
verification described next.
• Note that x-axis is not the
displacement of the loading
frame. It is the crack mouth
displacement measured by
the clip-on gauge. from ASTM E399

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4. Check for the Validity of the Experiment – PQ Check
• Criterion 1: Pmax / PQ < 1.10
• This criterion checks if the negligible plastic deformation assumption is vaild.
• If Pmax / PQ > 1.10, then there is excessive plasticity at the crack tip; the test is
not valid.
• Then one should perform a crack-tip opening displacement measurement
according to ASTM E1820. This requires a more tedious procedure.

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4. Check for the Validity of the Experiment – Calculate KQ
• If the criterion regarding PQ is satisfied, then calculate the conditional fracture
toughness value KQ. For a compact specimen:

• In this equation, B is the thickness of the specimen, a is the crack size, and W is
the distance from the loading holes to the other edge of the specimen and σy is
the yield strength of the material.
• For single-edge notch bending specimen (S is the length of the specimen):

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 4. Check for the Validity of the Experiment – Thickness Check
2
𝐾𝑄
• 𝑊 − 𝑎 > 2.5
𝜎𝑦
2
𝐾𝑄
• 𝐵 > 2.5
𝜎𝑦

where σy is the yield strength of the material.

• If the above two criteria are satisfied, the
specimen is thick enough to provide a plane
strain condition.
• Then KQ = KIC , the mode I plane strain fracture
toughness of the specimen.
• Otherwise, the measurement is not valid, and KQ > KIC. In this case, prepare
a thicker specimen and repeat the whole procedure.
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