Design for Fracture

Lecture Two
Lect. Dr. Hind B. Al-Attraqchi
 FRACTU
R E
The Fundamentals
Fracture = separation of body into two or more pieces due to
application of static stress , at temperatures below the melting point.
Tensile,
Compressive
Shear or torsional
Steps in fracture:
1- crack formation 2- crack propagation

Modes of fracture DUCTILE BRITTLE

Depending on the ability of material to undergo plastic deformation before the

fracture two fracture modes can be defined - ductile or brittle.
Ductile Fracture:
• Classification is based on the ability of a material to
experience plastic deformation.
• Ductile materials typically exhibit substantial plastic
deformation with high energy absorption before
fracture.
• ductility may be quantified in terms of
Brittle Fracture

• Very little or no plastic deformation,

• Crack propagation is very fast ,
• Crack propagates nearly perpendicular to the
direction of the applied stress,
• Crack often propagates by cleavage - breaking of
atomic bonds along specific crystallographic planes
(cleavage planes).
Ductile Vs Brittle Fracture
ductile fracture brittle fracture

(Cup-and-cone fracture in Al) Brittle fracture in a mild steel

Ductile vs Brittle Failure
• Classification: Fracture Very Moderately
Brittle
behavior: Ductile Ductile

%AR or %EL Large Moderate Small

• Ductile fracture is Ductile: Brittle:

usually more desirable Warning before No
than brittle fracture! fracture warning

6
 Stress Concentration
Crack propagation

Critical stress for crack propagation

γs = specific surface energy

E = modulus of elasticity
𝜎 = tensile stress
a = length of a surface
When the tensile stress at the tip of crack exceeds the
critical stress value the crack propagates and results in
fracture.
EXAMPLE PROBLEM
A relatively large plate of a glass is subjected to a tensile stress of 40 MPa. If
the specific surface energy and modulus of elasticity for this glass are 0.3 J/m2
and 69 GPa, respectively, determine the maximum length of a surface flaw that
is possible without fracture.

𝐸 = 69 𝐺𝑃𝑎 𝛾𝑠 =0.3 J/m2

𝜎 = 40 𝑀𝑃𝑎

Rearranging the equation

2𝐸𝛾 𝑎 = 8.2 * 10-6 m

𝑎=𝑠 2
𝜋𝜎
 TOUGHNESS: Impact Resistance
• “The energy per unit volume that can be absorbed by a material up
to the point of fracture is called toughness”.
• This is the ability of a material to resist shatter. If a material shatters it
is brittle (e.g. glass). If it fails to shatter when subjected to an impact
load it is tough (e.g. rubber).
• Toughness of a material may be measured by calculating the area
under the stress-strain diagram and impact test indicates the relative
toughness energy.
Guidelines for design
• Interaction between fracture toughness, allowable crack size &
design stress need to be considered.
• Toughness – A qualitative measure of the energy require to cause
fracture of material.
• A material that resist failure by impact is said to be tough
• Fracture toughness :The ability of materials containing flaws to
withstand load.
• Measured using :
• Impact testing apparatus – Charpy and Izod test
• Another is the area under the true stress-strain curve.
 IMPACT TESTING TECHNIQUES

• Various types of notched-bar impact tests are used to determine the tendency of
a material to behave in a brittle manner.
• Two standardized tests, the Charpy and Izod, were designed and are still used to
measure the impact energy, sometimes also termed notch toughness.
• The primary difference between the Charpy and Izod techniques lies in the
manner of specimen support, as illustrated
• For both Charpy and Izod, the specimen is in the shape
of a bar of square cross section, into which a V-notch
is machined as shown in figure.

Figure: Specimen used for charpy and izod impact test

• Designing with ductile unflawed parts, as the load
increase the nominal stress increase until it reaches the
yield stress and plastic deformation occurs.
• In the case of high-strength, low toughness material, as
the design stress increases (or as the size of the flaw
increase) the stress concentration at edge of crack, the
stress intensity KI, increase until reaches KIC and fracture
occurs.
• Thus the value of KI in a structure design should always
be kept below the value of KIC in the same manner that
the nominal stress is kept below the yield strength.
• Furthermore, these are termed impact tests in light of the manner of
load application. Variables including specimen size and shape as well
as notch configuration and depth influence the test results.
v- notch test:( calculate energy by using formula)
There is a formula which is used to measure the toughness if the
equipment is not computerized.
E = Pl (COSα2 - COSα1)
Where
E = Energy absorbed by a material, joules
P = Weight of the pendulum, Kg
l = length of the pendulum, m
α2 = lift angle, degree
α1 = Breaking angle, degree
Example: A MS sample is subjected to impact test, calculate the absorbed
energy of the specimen if the breaking angle is 100o.
The configuration of the impact tester is: Weight of the pendulum 26.72Kg,
Length of the pendulum 0.750m and lift angle 140.5o.
SIGNIFICANCE OF FRACTURE TOUGHNESS
• Impact test gives quantitative comparative useful data with
relative simple test specimens and equipment. However this test
does not provide property data for design purpose for material
selection containing cracks and flaws.
• The chief difficulty is that the result of the charpy test are
difficult to use in design, since there is no measurement in terms
of stress level, moreover there is no correlation of charpy data
with flaw size.
• Fracture toughness values can be used in mechanical design to
predict the allowable flaw size in alloy with limited ductility
when acted upon by specific stresses.
 Fracture Toughness
• Fracture toughness is a quantitative way of expressing a material's resistance
to brittle fracture when a crack is present. If a material has much fracture
toughness it will probably undergo ductile fracture. Brittle fracture is very
characteristic of materials with less fracture toughness.
Definition:
• A property that is a measure of a material’s resistance to brittle fracture when a
crack is present.
Or
• Fracture toughness is a property which describes the ability of a material
containing a crack to resist fracture, and is one of the most important properties
of any material for virtually all design applications.
A. A. Griffith theory states that the fracture resistance
of a brittle material such as glass is inversely
proportional to the square root of the crack length and
suggested that fracture occurs when the fracture is
stressed. Corresponding to the critical value of the
Fracture Stress. According to the following
relationship:

Where
Gc= Crack Extension Force , Ib/in2
E = Modulus of Elasticity of Material Ib/in2
a = Crack Length , inches
 STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR K:

§ The stress intensity factor K, is used in fracture mechanics to

predict the stress state ("stress intensity") near the tip of a crack
caused by a remote load or residual stresses

• The stress-distribution at the crack tip

in a thin plate for an elastic solid in
terms of the coordinate shown in figure

K= stress intensity factor

𝛔 = Nominal Stress based on Gross Cross-Section
a : is the crack length in meters or inches Fig. model for equations for
stresses at a point near a crack.
3. These have been standardized as shown in figure.

The three modes of crack surface displcement.

(a) Mode I, opening or tensile mode; (b) mode II, sliding mode; and ( c )
mode III, tearing mode.
Mode I: the crack opening mode, refer to a tensile stress applied in the y- direction
normal to the faces of the crack. This is the usual mode for fracture-toughness test and
the critical value of stress-intensity determined for this mode would be designated (KC).
Mode II: the forward shear mode, refer to s shear stress applied
normal to the leading edge of the crack but in the plane of the
crack.
Mode III: the parallel shear mode is for shearing stresses applied
parallel to the leading edge of the crack.
Most of the time, the cracks or fissures take a semi-oval shape in the
installation wall, such as pressure vessels in a shape (showing two
cases:) the surface crack and the submerged or combined fissure, and
in both cases the stress intensity factor can be expressed through the
following relationships:

(a) : surface crack (b) embedded crack

Problems related to Fracture toughness:
Example 1 A structural plate component of an engineering design must support
207MPa in tension. If aluminum alloy 2024-T851 is used for this application
what is the largest internal flaw size that this material can support? Use Y=1 and
KC of that alloy is 26.4Mpa√m.
Formula: KC = Y σ√πa
Ans: the largest internal crack size that plate can support = 10.36mm

Example 2 The critical stress intensity for a material for a component of a

design is 22.5Ksi√in. What is the applied stress that will cause fracture if the
component contains an internal crack 0.12in long? Assume Y=1.
Ans: 51.8Ksi
Example 3 What is the largest size (inches) internal crack that a thick plate of
aluminum alloy 7178-T651 can support at an applied stress of (a) ¾ of the
yield strength and (b) 1/2 of the yield strength? Assume Y=1. Hint:

Ans: (a) 0.072in (b) 0.163in

What affects toughness
Plane Strain and Plain Stress

§ Two terms that help explain some of the aspects of

Fracture Toughness that are intrinsic to the testing of
material and defining their toughness values.
§ Some materials show a strain rate dependence which can
serve to effectively increase the yield point of a material.
§ So, for the following discussions bear in mind that sudden
impacts can make a difference to toughness properties.
Plane Strain
• A material in a plane strain condition
shows strains only perpendicular to the
crack direction, with no strains along
the crack direction.
• This is most nearly attained in large
sections with material either side of the
crack preventing movement of the
material.
• Plane Strain conditions give the lowest
Fracture Toughness values and typically
produce brittle fractures.

ac = a
K IC = Fracture toughness
K IC = K
Plane Stress
• Loads across the crack produce a
displacement along the crack; this
becomes more prevalent the closer to
the surface and the lower the yield of
the material (and is hence affected by
temperature and material thickness).
• Under Plane Stress conditions materials
fail by a ductile mode.
• This condition is most prevalent in oil
industry engineering materials due to
thickness and yields.
 The Effect of Thickness
• As materials get thinner, the
amount of material under plane
stress decreases, increasing the
likelihood of a ductile failure
mode.
§ The relationship between stress
intensity, KI, and fracture
toughness, KIC, is similar to the
relationship between stress and
tensile stress.
§ The stress intensity, KI, represents the level of “stress” at the tip of the crack
and the fracture toughness, KIC, is the highest value of stress intensity that a
material under very specific (plane-strain) conditions that a material can
withstand without fracture.
1. Plane Strain - a condition of a body in
which the displacements of all points
in the body are parallel to a given
plane, and the values of theses
displacements do not depend on the
distance perpendicular to the plane

2. Plane Stress – a condition of a body

in which the state of stress is such that
two of the principal stresses are
always parallel to a given plane and
are constant in the normal direction
 The Effect of Thickness

• Examination of a fracture
surface of a fracture
mechanics test can show the
extent of the plane strain and
plane stress seen by the
sample. The more flat,
featureless area there is,
typically the lower the
toughness values, as more of
the material is in the Plane
Strain condition.
 The Effect of Yield

• The higher the yield of the material, the closer to

the surface you can be and still have a Plane
Strain condition.
• Since the toughness of the sample is dependent
on the amount of Plane Strain material, the more
there is, the lower the toughness.
• This partially explains why materials get more
brittle as they get colder.
 The Effect of Temperature
• As temperature decreases, the
toughness of a material
decreases.
• The extent of that change, and
the temperature over which it
occurs, varies from material to
material.
• Some materials exhibit a sharp
transition others a gentle
change, while others show no
distinct change at all.
 The Effect of Loading Rate

• As strain rates increase

the toughness at any
temperature tends to
decrease, the amount
this happens is
dependent on the
materials.