Materials Science

Chapter 8

Deformation and Fracture

Outline
8-1 Elastic Deformation
Elastic Moduli
Elastic Moduli vs Temperature
Elastic Moduli vs Crystal Direction
8-2 Plastic Deformation
Strength Hardness
Ductility True Stress and Strain
8-3 Deformation Mechanism
slip systems Mechanism of slip
Dislocation movements in solid solutions
plastic deformation of compounds
8-4 Fracture
Toughness test Ductility-tension temperature
Fracture Toughness Design Considerations
Concepts of Stress and Strain (tension and compression)
To compare specimens of different sizes, the load is calculated
per unit area.

Engineering stress: s = F / Ao
F is the load applied perpendicular to specimen cross-section; Ao
is cross-sectional area (perpendicular to the force) before
application of the load.
Engineering strain: ε= l / lo (100 %)
l is change in length, lo is the original length.
These definitions of stress and strain allow one to compare test
results for specimens of different cross-sectional area Ao and of
different length lo.
Stress and strain are positive for tensile loads, negative for
 Elastic Moduli
When only elastic deformation exists, strain is proportional to the
applied stress

stress
Modulus of Elasticity  Young’ s modulus 
strain
The greater the forces of attraction between atoms in a
material, the higher the modulus of elasticity

Any lengthening or compression of the crystal structure in

one direction, due to a uniaxial force, produces an
adjustment in the dimensions at right angles to the force.
Poisson’s Ratio
The –ve ratio between the lateral strain ey and the direct
tensile strain ez
ey

ez

In shear loading, the two forces are parallel but are

not aligned. As a result, the shear stress, s is the
shear force, Fs divided by the sheared area, As:
 = Fs/As

Shear stress produces angular displacement, .

Shear strain, , is the tangent of that angle = x/y in the next
Figure
Elastic Shear Strain: Shear couples produce a relative
displacement of one plane of atoms past the next. The
strain is elastic as long as the atoms keep their original
neighbours. (a) No strain, (b) Shear strain
The recoverable or elastic shear strain  shear stress
G=/
G is the shear modulus or the modulus of rigidity.
It is different from the modulus of elasticity but they inter-
related.
E = 2G (1 + )

Poison’s ratio between 0.25  0.5, G is approx. 35% E.

Bulk Modulus, K
The reciprocal of the compressibility  = hydrostatic
pressure Ph/unit volume of compression, V/V
 Ph 1
K 
V 
the bulk modulus is related
to the modulus of elasticity
E
K
3(1 - 2 )
Elastic Moduli vs Temperature

Discontinuity in case of Fe is due to the change from

bcc to fcc which required greater stress. Why?
Elastic Moduli vs Crystal Direction

• Elastic moduli are anisotropic within materials;

vary with crystallographic direction. E.g. Fe
modulus of elasticity = 205 GPa;

• Actually, modulus of a crystal of iron varies from

280 GPa in the [111] direction to only 125 GPa
in the [100] direction.

• The consequence of any such anisotropy

becomes significant in polycrystalline materials.
 Assume, a cross-section of a
steel wire, the average stress is
205 MPa.
If the grains are randomly
oriented, the elastic strain is
0.001, because the average
modulus of elasticity is 205 GPa.
However, in reality, the stress
varies from 125 MPa to 280
MPa as shown in (b), because
grains have different
orientations, but each is strained
equally (0.001). This means that
some grains will exceed their
yield strength before other grains
reach their yield strength.
For structural
applications, the yield
stress is usually a more
important property than
the tensile strength, since
once the yield stress has
passed, the structure has
deformed beyond
acceptable limits.
True stress = load/ actual
area in the necked-down
region, continues to rise to
the point of fracture, in
contrast to the engineering
stress.
σ= F/Ao ε= (li-lo/lo)
σT = F/Ai εT = ln(li/lo)
Both tensile strength and hardness
may be regarded as degree of
resistance to plastic deformation.
Hardness is proportional to the
tensile strength – but note that the
proportionality constant is different
for different materials.
 Deformation Mechanisms

Cubic metals readily deform by plastic shear or

slip.
Sliping: one plane of atoms slides over the next
adjacent plane.
Shear deformation also occurs when
compression or tension forces are applies
 Mechanism of slip

The strength of metals = shear modulus/6

If we place a shear stress along the horizontal direction, the
dislocation can be moved with shearing displacement within
the crystal.
The slip mechanism requires energy, E  IGb2
Solid solution dislocations
 Plastic deformation of compounds

In Metals : each atom is surrounded by similar atoms.

In compounds: two or more atom types are there,
deformation brings like atoms together and separates a
fraction on unlike atoms
High Energy is required (resistance to shear)
Plastic deformation of compounds
 Fracture
• Fracture is the ultimate mechanical failure.

brittle  less energy is required

Fracture
Ductile  large energy is required

Brittle fracture: requires energy to separate atoms and to

expose new surface along the fracture path
Ductile fracture: require not only the energy to separate
atoms but also much additional energy to deform
plastically the material adjacent to the fracture path
Toughness Test. The notched test specimen-arrow in (a) and sketched in
(b)-is broken by the impact of the swinging pendulum (c). The amount of
energy absorbed is calculated from the arc of the follow through swing
Ductility vs Temperature
Many materials exhibit a significant drop in ductility and toughness as
the temperature is lowered.
In glass and other amorphous materials, this corresponds to the glass
transition temperature.
Metals are crystalline i.e. no glass transition temperature, however,
they have ductility transition temperature, Tdt
Steel C is preferred, especially in areas with very cold winter.
Steel with higher ductility transition temperature would crack
faster until a ship is completely broken.
Fine-grained steel have low ductile transition temprature.
 Fracture Toughness, KIC
Impact test: qualitative, it does not result in data that can be
used for design considerations.
Fracture Mechnaics: Fracture starts with stress
concentrations