Fundamental Issues on Fracture Mechanics

Prof. Ameya More

Introduction 2

Fracture mechanics is an important theory of engineering

analysis which aims to predict whether a crack of given
length in a material is dangerous because it will propagate to
fracture at a given stress level.

It also permits the selection of materials for resistance to

fracture and a selection of the design which is most resistant
to fracture, introducing new parameters useful for the design,
such as the Fracture Toughness.

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Historical background 3

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Historical background 4

Failures of Liberty ships during

the 2nd World War

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 Historical background 5

Journal of Metals, n.50, (1),

1998, 12-18

Titanic’s sinking was caused by a

brittle fracture of the steel
superstructure
This brittle condition was
attributable to a high sulfur content
and high ductile-brittle transition
temperature.

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 Linear elastic fracture mechanics 6

An infinite dimension plate with an elliptical shape defect

 yy max    K
t
n

n = nominal stress

 = root radius

Kt = stress concentration factor

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 Linear elastic fracture mechanics 7

a
Kt = 1 2 
2
With: = b
a

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 Linear elastic fracture mechanics 8

 yy max   Kt  1 2
a
 n Kt 

According to the classical failure criteria:

 yy Y
max
Warning!!!
If   0  Kt   i.e. the criterion is never satisfied!!!!
This is a paradox, since the metallic matrix is actually
characterized by the presence of very sharp defects and
cracks
Hence, it is mandatory to introduce a new parameter, able to overcome
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Linear elastic fracture mechanics 9

this mathematical difficulty…we need a new approach!!!!

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Linear elastic fracture mechanics 10

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Linear elastic fracture mechanics 11

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 Linear elastic fracture mechanics 12

Evaluating the stress ij for  = 0, along the x direction, we can obtain:

 ij  K
2 r
When we have mechanical components of finite dimension, the stress ij
for  = 0 is given by:
n a
 ij 
2 r
Where  is a non-dimensional parameter, which is function of the
geometry of the part, of the crack length,…
Hence
K
n a

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 Linear elastic fracture mechanics 13

It is only a mathematical singularity that the local stresses at the crack tip
could rise to very high level as  approaches to zero. This does not happen
because plastic deformation occurs at the crack tip.

The stress intensity factor K is a convenient way to describe the stress

distribution around a crack. If two cracks or flaws of different geometry
have the same value of K, then the stress fields around each of the
cracks/flaws are identical.
Values of K for many geometrical cracks and many types of loading may
be calculated with the theory of elasticity (P.C.Paris, G.C.Sih, “Fracture
Toughness Testing”, p. 30, ASTM STP No.381, Philadelphia, 1965)
Since K is linked to the local stress at the tip of the crack, the critical
condition which brings to the failure is reached when K reaches a
critical value

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 Linear elastic fracture mechanics 14

In dealing with the stress intensity factor, there are several modes of
deformation which could be applied to the crack:

Mode I = crack-opening mode (refers to a tensile stress applied in the y-

direction normal to the faces of the crack)
Mode II = forward shear mode (refers to a shear stress applied normal to
the leading edge of the crack but in the plane of the crack)
Mode III = parallel shear mode (refers to shearing stresses applied
parallel to the leading edge of the crack)
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 Linear elastic fracture mechanics 15

Mode I loading is the most important situation.

This is the usual mode for fracture-toughness tests and a

critical values of stress intensity determined for this mode
would be designated as KIC (it is the so called fracture
toughness)

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Linear elastic fracture mechanics 16

There are two extreme cases for mode I loading:

• with thin plate-type specimens the stress state is plane stress
• with thick specimens there is a plane-strain condition

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Linear elastic fracture mechanics 17

The plane-strain condition represents the more severe stress state and
the values of Kc are lower than for plane-stress specimens.

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Linear elastic fracture mechanics 18

Plane strain values of critical stress intensity factor K Ic

are valid material properties, independent of specimen
thickness, to describe the fracture toughness of
materials.

• The fracture toughness is a material property in the same sense that

yield strength is a material property: it is independent of crack length,
geometry, loading systems.
•For a given alloy, KIc is strongly dependent on such metallurgical
variables as heat treatment, melting practice, impurities, inclusions,…
• KIc usually decreases with decreased temperature and increased strain
rate.

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Linear elastic fracture mechanics 19

How to use the fracture toughness for design.

If the material is selected, KIc is fixed.

We allow for the presence of a stable crack inside the material.
The crack becomes unstable when KI= KIC.

You can have two possibilities:

1. given the length of the crack, you can calculate the external load
able to give an instable propagation of the crack
2. given the external load, you can calculate the dimension of the crack
which gives an instantaneous propagation of the crack itself

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Linear elastic fracture mechanics 20

Example
A steel plate is 1000 mm wide and 50 mm thick. There is a 80 mm-
long crack at the edge of the plate. If K Ic = 79 MPa m1/2 and  = 1.12,
calculate the force required to propagate the crack.

KI    a  1.12  80 103 79

W
 n

n = 141 MPa

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 KIC plane-strain toughness testing 19

A variety of specimens have been proposed for measuring KIc plane-strain

fracture toughness.

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 KIC plane-strain toughness testing 20

The compact tension specimen and the three-point loaded bend specimen
have been standardized by ASTM (ASTM E399-90 (Reapproved 1997)
After the notch is machined in the specimen, the sharpest possible crack is
produced at the notch root by fatiguing the specimen. The initial crack
length includes both the depth of the notch and the length of the fatigue
crack.

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KIC plane-strain toughness testing 21

• The minimum thickness to achieve plane-strain conditions

and valid KIc measurements is

• There is no advance assurance to have plane-strain condition in a

test. The equation (§) should be used as an estimate of the expected
KIc to determine the specimen thickness.

• The test must be carried out in a testing machine which provides

for a continuous record of load P and relative displacement across
the open end of the notch (proportional to crack displacement).

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KIC plane-strain toughness testing 22

Three types of load-crack displacement curves can be

obtained from a test.
1. Type I: it represents the behavior for a wide variety of ductile metals
in which the crack propagates by a tearing mode with increasing
load.

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KIC plane-strain toughness testing 23

2. Type II: it has a point where there is a sharp drop in load followed by
a recovery of load. The load drop represents a “pop-in” which arises
from sudden unstable, rapid crack propagation before the crack
slows down to a tearing mode of propagation.

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KIC plane-strain toughness testing 24

3. Type III: it shows a complete “pop-in” instability where the initial crack
movement propagates rapidly to a complete failure.
This type of curve is characteristic of a very brittle elastic material.

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 KIC plane-strain toughness testing 25

The method to calculate KIc

[MPam ]

KQ  Conditional value of fracture toughness.

PQ  Load calculated from the load-displacement curve, according to the
Standard.
S  Span (S=4.W).
a  length of the crack
f aW  coefficient.

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 KIC plane-strain toughness testing 26

[MPa m ]
KQ  Conditional value of fracture toughness.
PQ  Load calculated from the load-displacement curve, according to the
Standard.
a  length of the crack
f aW  coefficient.


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KIC plane-strain toughness testing 27

How the determine PQ.

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KIC plane-strain toughness testing 28

After determining KQ, calculate the

factor

If it is less than both the thickness and crack length of the specimen,
then
KQ = KIC
Else
it is necessary to use a thicker specimen to determine KIC.

The new value of KQ can be used to estimate the new specimen

thickness.

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