Engineering materials

Fracture
Fracture

The theoretical cohesive stress of a solid is on the order of

E/10, but the strength of solids in practice is much lower
than this value.
σ<<σcs for ceramics and glasses due to flaws and cracks in
the materials.
Many engineering structures have failed by fracture. The
failure of material is associated with the presence of high
local stresses and strain in the vicinity of defects.
Stress Concentration
A circular hole in a plate under a uniform stress

𝑜
𝜎
3 3

𝑜
𝑜
𝜎
𝜎
𝑜
𝑜
𝜎
𝜎
𝑜
𝜎
Stress fields
An infinite plate with a center crack of length 2a, (W>>a)

The exact solution on y=0,

x>a
=

𝑥
𝑎
𝑦
𝑦
2− 2

𝜎
𝜎
𝑥
As x→∞, ≈

𝑦
𝑦
𝜎
𝜎
=

𝑥
𝑎
𝑥
𝑎
As x→a,
( + )( − )
𝑦
𝑦
𝜎
𝜎
𝑥
𝑥
𝑎
≈
2( − )

𝜎
𝑎
 Near Tip stress Field (
An infinite plate with a center Near crack tip,
crack of length 2a
Let ,
Define stress
≈ intensity factor

𝑥
𝑎
𝑦
𝑦
𝜎
2( − )

𝜎
𝑎
−1/2
∝

𝑦
𝑦
𝜎
𝑟
= lim 2

𝑟
𝐼
𝑦
𝑦
𝐾
𝜎
𝜋
𝑟
→0

𝑟
𝑟
= lim 2 =
𝐼
𝐾
𝜋
𝑟
𝜎
𝜋
𝑎
→0 2
𝜎
𝑎
Geometric correction factor
If specimen is not an infinite plate, we have a geometric
correction factor included in the stress intensity factor expression

For a crack in a plate of width

W,
𝑊
= sec
𝐼
𝐾
𝜎
𝜋
𝑎
𝜋
𝑎
If a/w << 1, then
𝑊
sec →1
𝜋
𝑎
 Fracture modes

Mode Mode II Mode Mixed

I III Mode

opening sliding tearing

Griffith Criterion
Uni-axial tensile tests of a glass specimens with different
sized cracks.
Griffith found that  decreases with increasing a, and is
a constant
Energy Consideration
If the crack grows by , the stress relaxes around the crack
and the strain energy decreases


𝑜
2
1
∫2
𝐸
= =
𝑦
𝑦
𝑦
𝛥
𝑈
𝜎
𝑢
𝑑
𝑥
𝛿
𝑎
∗
𝑒
𝑙
𝐼
𝐾
𝛿
𝑎



Energy Release Rate

= the energy released per unit area of crack extension

Π Π= − = −

𝑈
𝑉
𝑠
𝑡
𝑟
𝑎
𝑖
𝑛
𝑒
𝑛
𝑒
𝑟
𝑔
𝑦
𝑤
𝑜
𝑟
𝑘
𝑑
𝑜
𝑛
𝑒
𝑏
𝑦
𝑒
𝑥
𝑡
𝑒
𝑟
𝑛
𝑎
𝑙
𝑙
𝑜
𝑑
𝑎
𝐺
=−

𝑑
The decrease in strain energy when a crack propagates is balanced
by an increase in the surface energy produced by the creation of
the two crack surfaces.

For elastic 𝑑
2
𝑎
𝐸
Π=−
bodies, = =
𝑈
𝐺
𝐼
∗
𝑑
𝑈
𝐾
Gc= the energy required per unit area of crack extension
= critical energy release rate
= fracture toughness (J/m2)

=2
𝑐
𝐺
𝛾
 Fracture criterion

Since E and Gc are material parameters, one can combine

them to define a new material parameter:


: stress intensity factor (SIF), (N.m-3/2)
as fracture toughness

Strength Fracture Fracture

Criterion Criterion Criterion
: no yield <: no fracture : no fracture
: yield : fracture : fracture
Fracture Toughness
 Measurement of KIC
Do a uniaxial tensile test on specimen with different known
crack length
Various geometries used (single edge notch, double edge
notch, center notch ….)

Compact Three point bending

tension

1 3 5

( ) ( ) ( )
2 2 2
𝐵
𝑊
𝑊
𝑊
𝑊
= 29.6 − 185.5 + 655.7 +⋯
𝐼
𝐾
1
𝑃
𝑎
𝑎
𝑎
2 1 3 5

( ) ( ) ( )
2 2 2
𝐵
𝑊
𝑊
𝑊
𝑊
= 2.9 − 4.6 + 21.8 +⋯
𝐼
𝐾
3
𝑃
𝑆
𝑎
𝑎
𝑎
2
Measurement of KIC
Example 1

A structural plate component of an engineering design

must support 207 MPa in tension. If an aluminum alloy of 
is used for this application. What is the largest internal flaw
size that this plate can support? (Use geometric factor Y=1)

𝜋
= , =1
𝑎
𝑚
≤ , 207 ≤ 26.4
𝐼
𝐼
𝐶
𝐾
𝐾
𝜋
𝑎
( 207 )
2
1 26.4
≤ = 0.00518
𝐼
𝐾
𝑌
𝜎
𝜋
𝑎
𝑌
The maximum flaw size 2a=10.36mm
Example 2
A tensile sample of width 10 mm contains an internal crack of
length 0.3 mm. When loaded in tension the crack suddenly
propagates when the stress reaches 450 MPa. What is the
fracture toughness KIC of the material? If the material has a
modulus E of 200GPa, what is its toughness GC?

sec( )
𝐺
𝑃
𝑎
𝐸
𝐶
𝐼
𝐶
= =
𝐺
𝐾
𝐽
𝑚
𝑀
𝑃
𝑎
𝑚
sec( 0.15
10 )
𝐼
𝐶
𝐾
𝜋
𝑀
𝑃
𝑎
𝑚
= 450 0.00015 = 9.77
𝜋
𝑊
(9.77)2( )2 ⋅
( ) =
2
𝐼
1 2
= = 477 /
𝐾
𝑌
𝜎
𝜋
𝑎
𝑌
𝜋
𝑎
200
 Near Tip Field: Elastic-plastic behavior
If material behaves A plastic zone is formed in
elastic-perfectly-plastic front of crack tip

a
Approximation of plastic zone
size
2

𝜋
𝑟
~

2 ( )
1
𝑦
𝑦
𝑦
𝜋
𝜎
𝜎
2

𝐼
=
𝑦
𝐾
𝑟
𝐼
𝐾
In general, the plastic zone is not a circular region. This is an
Mechanisms of crack propagation1. Ductile
tearing
The crack has the effect of concentrating the stress. The local
stress ahead of a sharp crack in an elastic material is

𝜋
𝑟
~

𝑦
𝑦
𝜎
2 than σy
Near the crack tip, σlocal is higher

𝐼
𝐾
When KI=KIC, plastic zone size is approximately

2 ( )
1

𝑦
𝜋
𝜎
=
𝑦
𝑟
𝐼
𝑐
𝐾
Mechanisms of crack propagation1. Ductile
tearing

Most metals contain tiny inclusions or particles. Within the

plastic zone, plastic flow takes place around these
inclusions and lead to elongated cavities. These cavities link
up and cracks advances.
Ductile tearing on the crack to consume a lot of energy by
plastic flow. The larger the plastic zone, the more energy is
absorbed, and hence higher GIC and KIC. Metals are tough.
Mechanisms of crack propagation2. Brittle
cleavage
Ceramics and glasses have very high σy , and hence very
little plastic deformation.
σlocal is still large enough to literally break apart the
interatomic bonds.
The crack spreads between a pair of atomic planes giving
rise to an atomically flat surface.
The energy required to break the interatomic bonds is
much less than absorbed by ductile tearing
Ceramics and glasses are brittle.
 Ductile to brittle transition
At low temperature, some metals become brittle and fail by
cleavage, even though they may be tough at or above room
temperature.
Plane strain fracture

Plane
stress
1
( )

𝐸
2
=

𝐶
𝐼
𝐶
𝐺
𝐾
1 −ν 2 2
GC = (K IC )
E
Plane
strain
1 − ν2

𝐸
( )
2

𝐶
=

𝐼
𝐶
𝐺
𝐾
Statistics of Brittle Fracture

On average, the larger sample will fail at a lower stress than

a small one, because it is more likely that it will contain one
of the larger flaw.
The probability of failure depends on volume.

cerami
cs
 Weibull Analysis
Weibull showed that for brittle materials under a
uniform tension, the failure probability is

( )
𝑜
𝑜
𝑉
𝜎
= 1 − exp −
𝑓
𝑃
𝑉
𝜎
P
𝑚
f

σ=applied stress at
failure
σo=the scaling stress
m= Weibull modulus
Vo= an scaling volume σ/σo
Size effect

When m approaches infinity, no size effect.

Two specimens of different volume V1 and V2, the
probability of failure
Load two specimen of different volume at same stress
level, the larger one is more likely to fail.

At the same − 1 / ( / ) of failure, two specimen

probability − 2 // ( /of)
= 1 − = 1 −
𝑓
𝑓
𝑃
𝑒
𝑃
𝑒
1 2
𝑜
𝑜
𝑜
𝑜
𝑉
𝑉
𝜎
𝜎
𝑉
𝑉
𝜎
𝜎
different volume can sustain different loads
𝑚
𝑚


Meanings of Weibull parameters

− / ( / )
=1−

𝑜
𝑉
𝑜
𝑜
𝜎

𝑚
𝜎
𝑉
ln(1 − )=− / ( / )

𝑓
𝑜
𝑃
𝑉
𝑜
𝑚
𝜎
𝑚
𝜎
𝑉
(1− )
1
ln = V/ ( / )

𝑓
𝑃
𝑜
𝑜
𝑉
𝜎
𝜎
𝑚
( ( ))
1
ln ln 1 − = ln( ) + ln − ln

𝑓
𝑜
𝑜
𝑃
𝑉
𝑉
𝜎
𝜎
𝑚
′ = ln( ) − ln

𝑓
𝑃
𝑒
𝑜
𝑜
𝑉
𝑉
𝜎
𝜎
𝑚
 Example of Weibull analysis
The data obtained in 4-point bending tests on SiC
specimens are reported in Table. Calculate the Weibull
modulus m and the characteristic strength σo, and make
the weibull plot
Weibull analysis
If N sample are tested, rank the strength in
ascending order and obtained the probability of
failure for the ith strength value
i/(N+1)
as
Note there will be N+1 intervals for N tests