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Failure Contd…
• The failure of engineering materials is almost always an undesirable event • in the event that failure does occur, to assess its cause and then take
for several reasons; these include putting human lives in jeopardy, causing appropriate preventive measures against future incidents.
economic losses, and interfering with the availability of products and • Structural elements and machine elements can fail to perform their
services. intended functions in three general ways: excessive elastic deformation,
• Even though the causes of failure and the behavior of materials may be excessive plastic deformation or yielding, and fracture.
known, prevention of failures is difficult to guarantee. • Under the category of failure due to excessive elastic deformation, for
• The usual causes are improper materials selection and processing and example: too flexible machine shaft can cause rapid wear of bearing.
inadequate design of the component or its misuse. • On the other hand sudden buckling type of failure may occur. Failures due
• Also, damage can occur to structural parts during service, and regular to excessive elastic deformation are controlled by the modulus of elasticity,
inspection and repair or replacement are critical to safe design. It is the not by the strength of the material.
responsibility of the engineer to anticipate and plan for possible failure and

Contd… Contd…
• The most effective way to increase stiffness of a component is by tailoring • Fracture of materials may occur in three ways –
the shape or dimensions. brittle/ductile fracture, fatigue or progressive fracture, delayed
• Yielding or plastic deformation may render a component useless after a fracture.
certain limit. This failure is controlled by the yield strength of the material. • Ductile/brittle fracture occurs over short period of time, and
• At room temperature, continued loading over the yielding point may lead distinguishable.
to strain hardening followed by fracture. However at elevated • Fatigue failure is the mode in which most machine parts fail.
temperatures, failure occurs in form of time dependent yielding known as • Fatigue, which is caused by a critical localized tensile stress, occurs in parts
creep. which are subjected to alternating or fluctuating stress. Stress-rupture
• Fracture involves complete disruption of continuity of a component. occurs when a metal has been statically loaded at an elevated temperature
• It starts with initiation of a crack, followed by crack propagation. for a long time, and is best example for delayed fracture.
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Mechanical Properties Fracture

• Three factors that should be considered in designing laboratory tests to • Simple fracture is the separation of a body into two or more pieces in
assess the mechanical characteristics of materials for service use are: response to an imposed stress that is static (i.e., constant or slowly
changing with time) and at temperatures that are low relative to the
• the nature of the applied load (i.e., tension, compression, shear), melting temperature of the material.
• Fracture can also occur from fatigue (when cyclic stresses are imposed)
and creep (time-dependent deformation, normally at elevated
• load duration, and temperatures)
• Although applied stresses may be tensile, compressive, shear, or torsional
• environmental conditions. (or combinations of these)

Contd… Contd…
• Shear fracture, promoted by shear stresses, occurs as result of extensive slip on • For metals, two fracture modes are possible: ductile and brittle.
active slip plane. Classification is based on the ability of a material to experience plastic
• On the other hand, cleavage fracture is controlled by tensile stresses acting deformation.
normal to cleavage plane. • Ductile metals typically exhibit substantial plastic deformation with high
• A shear fracture surface appears gray and fibrous, while a cleavage fracture energy absorption before fracture. However, there is normally little or
surface appears bright or granular. Actual fracture surfaces often appear as
no plastic deformation with low energy absorption accompanying a
mixture of fibrous and granular mode.
brittle fracture.
• Based on metallographic examination of fracture surfaces of polycrystalline
materials, they are classified as either transgranular or intergranular. • Any fracture process involves two steps—crack initiation/formation and
• Transgranular fracture, as the name go by, represents crack propagation through propagation—in response to an imposed stress.
the grains, whereas intergranular fracture represents the crack that propagated • The mode of fracture is highly dependent on the mechanism of crack
along the grain boundaries.
propagation.
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Contd… Contd….
• Ductile fracture is characterized by extensive plastic deformation in the
• Ductile fracture is almost always preferred to brittle fracture for two
vicinity of an advancing crack.
reasons:
• Furthermore, the process proceeds relatively slowly as the crack length is
• First, brittle fracture occurs suddenly and catastrophically without any
extended. Such a crack is often said to be stable—that is, it resists any warning; this is a consequence of the spontaneous and rapid crack
further extension unless there is an increase in the applied stress. propagation.
• In addition, there typically is evidence of appreciable gross deformation at • However, for ductile fracture, the presence of plastic deformation gives
the fracture surfaces (e.g., twisting and tearing). warning that failure is imminent, allowing preventive measures to be taken.
• However, for brittle fracture, cracks may spread extremely rapidly, with • Second, more strain energy is required to induce ductile fracture in as much
very little accompanying plastic deformation as these materials are generally tougher.
• Such cracks may be said to be unstable, and crack propagation, once • Under the action of an applied tensile stress, many metal alloys are ductile,
started, continues spontaneously without an increase in magnitude of the whereas ceramics are typically brittle, and polymers may exhibit a range of
applied stress. behaviors.

Ductile Fracture
• Ductile fracture surfaces have distinctive features on both macroscopic and
microscopic levels.
• Figure shows schematic representations for two characteristic macroscopic
fracture profiles.
• The configuration shown in Figure (a) is found for extremely soft metals,
such as pure gold and lead at room temperature, and other metals,
polymers, and inorganic glasses at elevated temperatures. These highly
ductile materials neck down to a point fracture, showing virtually 100%
reduction in area. Figure: (a) Highly ductile fracture in which the specimen necks down to a point.
• The most common type of tensile fracture profile for ductile metals is that (b) Moderately ductile fracture after some necking. (c) Brittle fracture without
any plastic deformation.
represented in Figure (b), where fracture is preceded by only a moderate
amount of necking.
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Mechanism of Fracture (Ductile)

• The fracture process normally occurs in several stages .
• First, after necking begins, small cavities, or micro-voids, form in the
interior of the cross section, as indicated in Figure.
• Next, as deformation continues, these micro-voids enlarge, come together,
and coalesce to form an elliptical crack, which has its long axis
perpendicular to the stress direction.
• The crack continues to grow in a direction parallel to its major axis by this
micro-void coalescence process (refer Figure).
• Finally, fracture ensues by the rapid propagation of a crack around the
outer perimeter of the neck by shear deformation at an angle of about 45 Figure: Stages in the cup-and-cone fracture. (a) Initial necking. (b) Small cavity formation. (c)
Coalescence of cavities to form a crack. (d) Crack propagation. (e) Final shear fracture at a 45
with the tensile axis—the angle at which the shear stress is a maximum. angle relative to the tensile direction.

Contd… Contd…
• Sometimes a fracture having this characteristic surface contour is termed a • In addition, particle shape also has an important influence. When the
cup-and-cone fracture because one of the mating surfaces is in the form of particles are more spherical than plate-like, cracking is more difficult and
a cup and the other like a cone. the ductility is increased.
• The voids are thought to be nucleated heterogeneously at sites where • This is because dislocations can cross slip around spherical particles with
further deformation is difficult. ease than around plate-like particles thus avoids buildup of high stresses.
• These preferred sites mainly consists of foreign inclusions, second-phase • Ductile fracture is not particularly important in terms of mechanical
particles like oxide particles, or even voids those can form at grain behavior because it usually is associated with good toughness
boundary triple points in high-purity metals.
• It has been observed that concentration of nucleating sites had a strong
influence on ductile fracture as true strain to fracture decreases rapidly
with increasing volume fraction of second phase particles.
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Mechanism of Fracture (Brittle) Contd…

• Brittle fracture takes place without any appreciable deformation and by • Most brittle fractures occur in a transgranular manner.
rapid crack propagation. • Macroscopically, the fracture surface may have a grainy or faceted texture
• The direction of crack motion is very nearly perpendicular to the direction as a result of changes in orientation of the cleavage planes from grain to
of the applied tensile stress and yields a relatively flat fracture surface, as grain.
shown in earlier Figure. • However, brittle fracture can occur in intergranular manner i.e. crack
• This crack propagation corresponds to successive and repeated breaking to propagates along grain boundaries.
atomic bonds along specific crystallographic planes, and hence called • This happens only if grain boundaries contain a brittle film or if the grain-
cleavage fracture. boundary region has been embrittled by the segregation of detrimental
• This fracture is also said to be transgranular because crack propagates elements.
through grains. Thus it has a grainy or faceted texture. • In some alloys, crack propagation is along grain boundaries; this fracture is
termed intergranular.

Stages in Brittle Fracture Contd…

• In analogy to ductile fracture, as supported by number of detailed • Brittle fracture occurs without any warning sign, thus it needs to be
experiments, the brittle fracture in metals is believed to take place in three avoided.
stages – • Hence brittle fracture and its mechanism have been analyzed to a great
extent compared to ductile fracture.
(1) plastic deformation that causes dislocation pile-ups at obstacles, • Brittle fracture usually occurs at stress levels well below those predicted
(2) micro-crack nucleation as a result of build-up theoretically from the inherent strength due to atomic or molecular bonds.
of shear stresses, • This situation in some respects is analogous to the discrepancy between
(3) eventual crack propagation under applied stress aided by stored elastic the theoretical strength shear strength of perfect crystals and their
energy. observed lower yield strength values.
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Fatigue Contd…
• Fatigue is a form of failure that occurs in structures subjected to dynamic • Furthermore, fatigue is catastrophic and insidious, occurring very suddenly
and fluctuating stresses (e.g., bridges, aircraft, machine components). and without warning.
• Under these circumstances, it is possible for failure to occur at a stress • Fatigue failure is brittle-like in nature even in normally ductile metals in
level considerably lower than the tensile or yield strength for a static that there is very little, if any, gross plastic deformation associated with
load. failure.
• The term fatigue is used because this type of failure normally occurs after • The process occurs by the initiation and propagation of cracks, and
a lengthy period of repeated stress or strain cycling. typically the fracture surface is perpendicular to the direction of an applied
• Fatigue is important in as much as it is the single largest cause of failure tensile stress.
in metals, estimated to be involved in approximately 90% of all metallic • The applied stress may be axial (tension–compression), flexural (bending),
failures; polymers and ceramics (except for glasses) are also susceptible or torsional (twisting) in nature. In general, three different fluctuating
to this type of failure. stress–time modes are possible.

Contd… Crack Initiation & Propagation

• The fatigue crack nucleates at the stress concentration. Generally, the • The process of fatigue failure is characterized by the following distinct
fatigue fracture surface is perpendicular to the direction of an applied steps:
stress. (a) crack initiation – includes the early development of fatigue damage that
• A fatigue failure can be recognized from the appearance of the fracture can be removed by suitable thermal anneal
surface, which shows a smooth and polished surface that corresponds to (b) slip band crack growth – involves the deepening of initial crack on
the slow growth of crack. planes of high shear stress. This is also known as stage-I crack growth.
• The region of a fracture surface that formed during the crack propagation (c) crack growth on planes of high tensile stress – involves growth of crack
step may be results in characteristic pattern of concentric rings spread over in direction normal to maximum tensile stress, called stage-II crack
the smooth region of the fracture surface, known as beach marks or growth
striations, radiating outward from the point of initiation of the failure. (d) final ductile failure – occurs when the crack reaches a size so that the
remaining cross-section cannot support the applied load.
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Contd… Contd…
• Fatigue failures usually are found to initiate at a free surface or at internal • The amount of crack motion per cycle depends on the material and the
flaws such as inclusions where the local stress causes some heterogeneous stress level; high stresses favor larger crack growth increments per cycle.
permanent flow leading to formation of a small crack. • Eventually, the crack propagates to the point where the remaining intact
• Fatigue failures start as small microscopic cracks and, accordingly, are very cross section of material no longer can support the applied load, and
sensitive to even minute stress raisers. further crack propagation is rapid, leading to catastrophic failure.
• It has been observed that diffusion processes are not necessary to the • The final fracture surface is composed of an area over which there was
formation of fatigue cracks. slow crack propagation and an area where the crack moved rapidly.
• The initiation of a fatigue crack does not lead to immediate failure, rather, • Final fracture can be either ductile or brittle type.
the crack propagates slowly and discontinuously across the specimen
under the action of cyclic stress.

THE S–N CURVE Contd…

• As with other mechanical characteristics, the fatigue properties of
• From Figure (a), during rotation, the lower surface of the specimen is
materials can be determined from laboratory simulation tests.
subjected to a tensile (i.e., positive) stress, whereas the upper surface
• A test apparatus should be designed to duplicate as nearly as possible the experiences compression (i.e., negative) stress.
service stress conditions (stress level, time frequency, stress pattern, etc.).
• The most common type of test conducted in a laboratory setting employs a
rotating–bending beam: alternating tension and compression stresses of
equal magnitude are imposed on the specimen as it is simultaneously bent
and rotated.
• In this case, the stress cycle is reversed—that is, R=-1. Schematic diagrams
of the apparatus and test specimen commonly used for this type of fatigue
testing as shown in Figures a and b, respectively.
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Contd…
• A series of tests is commenced by subjecting a specimen to stress cycling
at a relatively large maximum stress (σ ), usually on the order of two-
thirds of the static tensile strength; number of cycles to failure is counted
and recorded.
• This procedure is repeated on other specimens at progressively decreasing
maximum stress levels. Data are plotted as stress S versus the logarithm of
the number N of cycles to failure for each of the specimens. The S
parameter is normally taken as either maximum stress (σ ) or stress
Figure : For rotating–bending fatigue tests, schematic diagrams of (a) a testing apparatus, and (b) a test
amplitude (σ ) (Figures a and b).
specimen.

Contd…
• Two distinct types of S–N behavior are observed and are represented
schematically in Figures. As these plots indicate, the higher the magnitude
of the stress, the smaller the number of cycles the material is capable of
sustaining before failure.
• For some ferrous (iron-base) and titanium alloys, the S–N curve (see Figure
a) becomes horizontal at higher N values; there is a limiting stress level,
called the fatigue limit (also sometimes called the endurance limit), below
which fatigue failure will not occur. This fatigue limit represents the largest
value of fluctuating stress that will not cause failure for essentially an
infinite number of cycles.
Figure: Stress amplitude (S) versus logarithm of the number of cycles to fatigue failure (N) for (a) a
material that displays a fatigue limit and (b) a material that does not display a fatigue limit
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Creep
• Creep is defined as the time-dependent and permanent deformation of
materials when subjected to a constant load or stress, creep is normally an
undesirable phenomenon and is often the limiting factor in the lifetime of a
part.
• Materials are often placed in service at elevated temperatures and exposed
to static mechanical stresses (e.g., turbine rotors in jet engines and steam
generators that experience centrifugal stresses; high-pressure steam lines).
• It is observed in all materials types; for metals, it becomes important only for
temperatures greater than about 0.4Tm, where Tm is the absolute melting
temperature. Amorphous polymers, which include plastics and rubbers, are
especially sensitive to creep deformation.
Figure: Maximum stress (S) versus logarithm of the number of cycles to fatigue failure (N) for seven
metal alloys. Curves were generated using rotating–bending and reversed-cycle tests.

Contd… Creep Behaviour

• A typical creep test consists of subjecting a specimen to a constant load or • A typical creep curve (strain versus time) normally exhibits three distinct
stress while maintaining the temperature constant; deformation or strain is regions: transient (or primary), steady-state (or secondary), and tertiary.,
measured and plotted as a function of elapsed time. Most tests are the each of which has its own distinctive strain–time feature.
constant-load type, which yield information of an engineering nature; • Primary or transient creep occurs first, typified by a continuously
constant-stress tests are employed to provide a better understanding of decreasing creep rate—that is, the slope of the curve decreases with time.
the mechanisms of creep. This suggests that the material is experiencing an increase in creep
resistance or strain hardening deformation becomes more difficult as the
material is strained.
• For secondary creep, sometimes termed steady-state creep, the rate is
constant—that is, the plot becomes linear. This is often the stage of creep
that is of the longest duration. The constancy of creep rate is explained on
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Contd…
the basis of a balance between the competing processes of strain hardening and
recovery, recovery being the process by which a material becomes softer and
retains its ability to experience deformation.
• Finally, for tertiary creep, there is an acceleration of the rate and ultimate failure.
This failure is frequently termed rupture and results from microstructural and/or
metallurgical changes—for example, grain boundary separation, and the
formation of internal cracks, cavities, and voids. Also, for tensile loads, a neck
may form at some point within the deformation region. These all lead to a
decrease in the effective cross-sectional area and an increase in strain rate.
• Important design parameters available from such a plot include the steady-state
creep rate (slope of the linear region) and rupture lifetime. Figure: Typical creep curve of strain versus time at constant load and constant elevated temperature. The
minimum creep rate Δe/ Δt is the slope of the linear segment in the secondary region. Rupture lifetime tr is the
total time to rupture.

Contd… Contd…
• For metallic materials, most creep tests are conducted in uniaxial tension using a
• The results of creep rupture tests are most commonly presented as the
specimen having the same geometry as for tensile tests. However, uniaxial
logarithm of stress versus the logarithm of rupture lifetime. Next Figure is
compression tests are more appropriate for brittle materials; these provide a
better measure of the intrinsic creep properties because there is no stress one such plot for an S-590 alloy in which a set of linear relationships can be
amplification and crack propagation, as with tensile loads. Compressive test seen to exist at each temperature.
specimens are usually right cylinders or parallelepipeds having length-to- • For some alloys and over relatively large stress ranges, nonlinearity in
diameter ratios ranging from about 2 to 4. these curves is observed.
• For most materials, creep properties are virtually independent of loading • Empirical relationships have been developed in which the steady-state
direction. Possibly the most important parameter from a creep test is the slope creep rate as a function of stress and temperature is expressed.
of the secondary portion of the creep curve; this is often called the minimum or
steady-state creep rate. It is the engineering design parameter that is considered
for long-life applications, such as a nuclear power plant component.
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Contd…
• Both temperature and applied stress level influence creep behavior.
Increasing either of these parameters produces the following effects:
An increase in the instantaneous initial deformation
An increase in the steady-state creep rate
A decrease in the rupture lifetime
• Metal alloys that are especially resistant to creep have high elastic moduli
and melting temperatures; these include the super alloys, the stainless
steels, and the refractory metals. Various processing techniques are
employed to improve the creep properties of these materials.
Figure: Stress (logarithmic scale) versus rupture lifetime (logarithmic scale) for an S-590 alloy at four temperatures.

Environmental Effects Contd…

• Thermal stresses do not arise if this mechanical restraint is absent.
• Environmental factors may also affect the fatigue behavior of materials. A Therefore, one obvious way to prevent this type of fatigue is to eliminate,
few brief comments will be given relative to two types of environment- or at least reduce, the restraint source, thus allowing unhindered
assisted fatigue failure: thermal fatigue and corrosion fatigue. dimensional changes with temperature variations, or to choose materials
with appropriate physical properties.
• Thermal fatigue is normally induced at elevated temperatures by • Failure that occurs by the simultaneous action of a cyclic stress and
fluctuating thermal stresses; mechanical stresses from an external source chemical attack is termed corrosion fatigue.
need not be present. The origin of these thermal stresses is the restraint to • Corrosive environments have a deleterious influence and produce shorter
the dimensional expansion and/or contraction that would normally occur fatigue lives. Even normal ambient atmosphere affects the fatigue behavior
in a structural member with variations in temperature. of some materials. Small pits may form as a result of chemical reactions
between the environment and the material, which may serve as points of
stress concentration and therefore as crack nucleation sites.
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Contd… Contd…
• In addition, the crack propagation rate is enhanced as a result of the • On the other hand, it might be advisable to take actions to minimize the
corrosive environment. The nature of the stress cycles influences the probability of normal fatigue failure, as outlined previously—for example,
fatigue behavior; for example, lowering the load application frequency reduce the applied tensile stress level and impose residual compressive
leads to longer periods during which the opened crack is in contact with stresses on the surface of the member.
the environment and to a reduction in the fatigue life. • Measures that may be taken to extend fatigue life include the following:
• Several approaches to corrosion fatigue prevention exist. We can take • Reducing the mean stress level
measures to reduce the rate of corrosion by some of the techniques, for • Eliminating sharp surface discontinuities
example, apply protective surface coatings, select a more corrosion-
resistant material, and reduce the corrosiveness of the environment. • Improving the surface finish by polishing
• Imposing surface residual compressive stresses by shot peening
• Case hardening by using a carburizing or nitriding process.