Behavior of Materials in Service

(Failure)
Chapter 8

Lecture 05
Failure
 Failure is always an undesirable event

 The usual causes are improper materials selection and processing and
inadequate design of the component or its misuse.

 Also, damage can occur to structural parts during service, and regular
inspection and repair or replacement are critical to safe design.

 It is the responsibility of the engineer to anticipate and plan for possible failure

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 Review of Ductile vs. Brittle Materials
• Ductile materials - extensive plastic deformation and energy absorption (“toughness”) before fracture

• Brittle materials - little plastic deformation and low energy absorption before fracture

A completely brittle material would fracture almost at the

elastic limit, while a brittle material shows some slight measure
of plasticity before fracture.

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 Fracture
 Separation or fragmentation of a solid body into pieces (two or more) due
to an imposed stress that is static , at temperatures below the melting point.

 Fracture can also occur from fatigue (when cyclic stresses are imposed)
and creep (time dependent deformation, normally at elevated temperatures)

 Steps in fracture:
crack formation
crack propagation
 Depending on the ability of material to undergo plastic deformation before
the fracture, two fracture modes can be defined - ductile or brittle

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 Fracture (Based on strain to fracture)
 Ductile fracture - most metals (not too cold):
 Extensive plastic deformation prior to and during the propagation of the crack
 Crack is “stable”: resists further extension unless applied stress is increased

 Brittle fracture - ceramics, ice, cold metals:

 Relatively little plastic deformation (no gross deformation)
 Crack is “unstable”: propagates rapidly without increase in applied stress (rapid rate
of crack propagation)

 Ductile fracture is preferred in most applications (why???)

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 Tendency to Brittle Fracture
 The tendency for brittle fracture is increased with

 decreasing temperature
 Increasing strain rate or high loading rate
 Tri-axial stress conditions (usually produced by a notch)

 Brittle fracture is to be avoided at all cost because it occurs suddenly

without any warning and usually produces disastrous consequences.

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 Ductile vs. Brittle Fracture
 Metals can exhibit many different types of fracture, depending on the
materials, temperature, state of stress, and rate of loading

 The following figures in the next slide illustrates some of the types of tensile
fractures which can occur in metals.

 Brittle fractures have been observed in bcc and hcp metals but not in fcc metals
unless there are factors contributing grain boundary embrittlement.

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 Ductile vs. Brittle Fracture

A. Very ductile, soft metals (e.g. Pb, Au) at room temperature, other metals,
polymers, glasses at high temperature.

B. Moderately ductile fracture, typical for ductile metals

C. Brittle fracture, cold metals, ceramics.

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 Ductile Failure vs. Brittle Failure

Ductile Failure Brittle Failure

Extensive plastic deformation Very little plastic deformation at
ahead of advancing crack the crack front

High energy absorption before Little energy absorption before

failure (high toughness) failure (low toughness)

Process proceeds relatively slowly Crack advances extremely

as the crack length extended rapidly

Such crack is stable (i.e., it resists Such crack is unstable and crack
any further deformation unless an propagation, once started,
increased stress is applied) continues spontaneously

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 Ductile Fracture (Dislocation Mediated)
Steps in Ductile Fracture:

(a) Necking

(b) Formation of micro-voids (cavities)

(c) Coalescence of micro-voids to form

elliptical crack

(d) Crack propagation by shear deformation

(e) Fracture

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 Dislocation (Brief Idea)

 The regular lattice in which atoms in a metal are arranged can contain line-like
defects called dislocations. The dynamics of dislocations is the underlying
mechanism for the plastic deformation of metals.
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 Brittle Fracture (Limited Dislocation Mobility)
 No appreciable plastic deformation
 Crack propagation is very fast
 Crack propagates nearly perpendicular to the
direction of the applied stress and yields
relatively flat fracture surfaces.

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 Fractographic Study of Brittle Fracture
Origin of cracks Origin of cracks

V shaped “chevron” markings

Radial fan shaped ridges

 Fracture surfaces of materials that failed in a brittle manner will have their own distinctive patterns

 For very hard and fine-grained metals, there will be no discernible fracture pattern. Brittle fracture in
amorphous materials, such as ceramic glasses, yields a relatively shiny and smooth surface.
 Brittle Fracture
For most brittle crystalline materials, crack propagation corresponds to the
successive and repeated breaking of atomic bonds along specific crystallographic
planes; such a process is termed cleavage.
This type of fracture is said to be transgranular (or transcrystalline), because the
fracture cracks pass through the grains.

Macroscopically, the fracture surface may have a grainy or faceted texture, as a

result of changes in orientation of the cleavage planes from grain to grain.
This cleavage feature is shown at a higher magnification in the scanning electron
micrograph of Figure A.

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 Brittle Fracture
In some alloys, crack propagation is along grain boundaries; this fracture is termed
intergranular. Figure B is a scanning electron micrograph showing a typical
intergranular fracture, in which the three-dimensional nature of the grains may be
seen.

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 Brittle Fracture
A. Transgranular fracture: Fracture cracks pass
through grains. Fracture surface have grainy or
faceted texture because of different orientation of
cleavage planes in grains.

B. Intergranular fracture: Fracture crack

propagation is along grain boundaries. Grain
boundaries may be weakened or embrittled by
impurities segregation etc.

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