FME 451

Materials Science & Engineering IV

Fourth Year
Semester I

Fracture Mechanics

1
Fracture Mechanics
Introduction to Fracture Mechanics: Damage-Tolerant Design
➢ Cracks can exist in parts before service and begins to grow during use.
➢ Fracture mechanics focuses on crack growth until it becomes critical, then the part
is removed from service.
➢ Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) is used for analysis.

➢ Inspection and maintenance ensure parts are retired before cracks reach
catastrophic size.
➢ Designer should be able predict how fast the cracks will grow and how fast the
residual strength will decrease

2
Fracture Mechanics
Crack Growth and Stress Concentration
Residual Strength is the remaining strength of a material or structure after it has
been subjected to damage, or prior loading.

LEFM should answer:

➢ What is the residual strength as a function of crack size?
➢ What crack size can be tolerated at expected service load?
➢ How long will it take the crack to grow from initial size to this critical size?
➢ What size of pre-existing flaw can be permitted when the structure is put in
service. Use of NDT!
➢ How often should the structure be inspected? Use of NDT!

3
Fracture Mechanics
Crack Growth and Stress Concentration
Limitations of Stress-Concentration Factors
➢ Elastic stress-concentration factors help predict the load needed to initiate plastic
deformation or fracture.
➢ However, these factors become invalid when sharp cracks or flaws with very small
radii exist.
➢ High local stresses at crack tips can lead to localized plastic deformation, making
stress-concentration analysis unreliable.
Crack Growth and Material Behavior

➢ By analyzing elastic changes and measuring

fracture energy, it's possible to calculate the
stress needed for crack growth.

➢ This is effective for brittle materials like

glass, and hard steels.

➢ Ductile materials tend to blunt sharp cracks,

causing fracture at stresses close to their
yield strength. 4
Fracture Mechanics
Quasi-Static Fracture Overview

Brittle Fracture:
➢ Sudden and rapid crack propagation observed in materials like cast iron or glass
during tensile tests.
➢ Appears instantaneous as the material breaks suddenly.

Slow Crack Growth:

➢ Observed when cracks propagate slowly, such as ice cracking on a frozen pond.

➢ The crack requires energy from the stress field to propagate, making it a time-
dependent process.

Stable vs. Unstable Cracks:

➢ A crack can remain stable under certain stress levels.

➢ Increased loading can render the crack unstable, leading to fracture.

5
Fracture Mechanics
Inglis analysis of a plate containing an elliptical hole

➢ The maximum stress occurs at (±a, 0) and is given by

𝑎 b2
𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 1 + 2 𝜎𝑎 But ,  =
𝑏 a
 max =  a 1 + 2 a  ; since a>>
  max = Maximum stress at the end
of the major axis.
 max  2 a a
 a = Applied stress normal to the
major axis.
𝑎
stress concentration factor,𝐾𝑡 = 2 a = Half major axis.
𝜌 6
b = Half minor axis.
Fracture Mechanics
Managing Crack Geometry and Stress Concentration (Kt)

➢ Stress Concentration (Kt): Kt quantifies how the geometry of a crack affects

the local stress at the crack tip.

Factors Affecting Kt:

➢ Crack Length: Kt increases with longer cracks.
➢ Crack-Tip Radius: Kt also increases as the crack-tip radius decreases.

Mitigation Strategies:

➢ Keep Cracks Small: Frequent inspections and replacing components when cracks
reach dangerous levels are essential.

➢ Hole Drilling: Drilling a hole through the crack tip can reduce the severity of stress
concentration. However, the crack may re-initiate, requiring ongoing inspection.

7
Fracture Mechanics
Foundation of Fracture Mechanics
Cause of Stress Concentrations:
➢ Cracks disrupt the flow of force lines, causing locally raised
stresses near the crack tip.
➢ These stresses diminish with distance from the notch in
an inversely proportional manner.
Impact on Failure:
➢ Localized stresses at the crack tip lead to failure, but they
are difficult to calculate directly.

Griffith's Approach:
➢ Griffith introduced a global energy balance method to
predict failure in brittle materials, allowing for the
calculation of fracture stress (σf).

Energy-Based Crack Growth:

➢ Crack propagates when the energy release rate from applied loading exceeds the
energy required for crack growth.
➢ Griffith's work primarily applies to brittle materials (glass), but for ductile materials,
energy needed to do plastic work at the crack tip is more important than surface
8
energy.
Fracture Mechanics
Two Opposing Energetic Considerations in Griffith's Fracture Theory

➢ Griffith's theory explains crack propagation and

stability based on energy balance.
➢ Two key opposing factors influence crack behavior:
Stored Strain Energy (U)
Surface Energy (Us)
Stored Strain Energy (U)
➢ Potential energy stored in material due to applied
stress.
➢ When a crack forms, strain energy reduces as
the material around the crack is relieved of stress.
➢ Inglis' Stress Analysis:
➢ Griffith used Inglis' work to calculate the stored strain energy around cracks.
 app
2
a 2
U =− A negative sign is used because growth of the crack
E releases elastic strain energy

➢ Crack Growth:
➢ As the crack grows, strain energy is released, potentially driving further
9
crack propagation.
Fracture Mechanics
Surface Energy and Energy Balance in Crack Growth

Surface Energy (Us)

➢ Surface energy is the energy required to create new surfaces by breaking
atomic bonds.
➢ Energy Cost of Crack Growth:
➢ Crack propagation creates new surfaces, which requires energy.
➢ Surface energy acts as a resisting force against crack growth.

Balance of Energies
➢ Crack Propagation:
➢ A crack will propagate when the released strain energy (U) exceeds the
energy required to create new surfaces (Us).
➢ If the released energy is too small, the crack will remain stable.
The total change in potential energy resulting from the creation of the crack is:

10
Fracture Mechanics
Surface Energy and Energy Balance in Crack Growth

➢ Griffith's theory states that a crack will continue to grow under constant stress
(σf) if any increase in crack length does not change the total energy of the
system.
i.e., the increased surface energy is compensated by a decrease in elastic
strain energy.

dU d   app
2
a 2 
=0=  − + 4 a s 
da 
da  E 


2 app
2
a 2 2f a 4 E s 2 E s
4 s = = ; 2 2f = ; f =
E E a a
➢ Accurate for brittle materials (e.g. glass). Thus, correction required for metals
to allow for plastic deformation at crack tip

➢ Modification of Griffith's theory using fracture toughness (𝑲𝑰𝑪 ) accounts for the
plastic work done at the crack tip in metals, making it more applicable to ductile
materials
11
Fracture Mechanics
Surface Energy and Energy Balance in Crack Growth

➢ Re-arranging

➢ OR
 f a = 2 E s = materialconst.
➢ It is clear that as the crack, a, increases, the stress, f, required for crack
extension decreases (i.e., for failure to occur). Note that this only applies to purely
brittle materials!

12
Fracture Mechanics
How do we account for plasticity

13
Fracture Mechanics
How do we account for plasticity

14
Fracture Mechanics
Stress Intensity Factor

Stress Intensity Factor (K):

➢ Defines the stress concentration at the crack tip.
Given by:
𝐾𝐼 = 𝜎 𝜋𝑎 Units: MPa√m

➢ The stress intensity factor is not to be confused with the static stress-
concentration factors 𝐾𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐾𝑡𝑠

Geometry Factor (β):

➢ The equation can be modified with a factor β to account for crack geometry
and loading conditions:
𝐾𝐼 = 𝛽𝜎 𝜋𝑎
➢ Values of β for different configurations are found in engineering tables e.g as
shown in the following figure.

15
Fracture Mechanics
Local Stresses at the Crack Tip

16
Fracture Mechanics
Local Stresses at the Crack Tip

17
Fracture Mechanics
Local Stresses at the Crack Tip

18
Fracture Mechanics
Fracture Toughness

➢ As applied stress increases, K (and therefore the local crack tip stress) will also
increase until the local stress required for fracture is reached.

➢ We define this critical stress intensity factor value as: 𝐾𝐼𝐶 the fracture toughness
value.

𝐾𝐼𝐶 = 𝜎𝑓 𝜋𝑎𝑐
where 𝜎𝑓 = the stress applied at fracture
ac = critical crack length
More generally:
𝐾𝐼𝐶 = β𝜎𝑓 𝜋𝑎𝑐
where Y(shape factor) allows for various types of crack and specimen geometries)

19
Fracture Mechanics
Fracture Toughness

➢ How does the Griffith energy balance approach relate to K?

➢ Consider fracture toughness:

➢ Griffith approach says: Factor of safety

𝐾𝐼𝐶 = 𝜎𝑓 𝜋𝑎

2E
f =
a
𝜎𝑓 𝜋𝑎 = 2𝐸𝛾 = 𝐾𝐼𝐶
materials constants

➢ KIC is called fracture toughness of a material

➢ Hence KIC is a materials constant, as long as LINEAR ELASTIC

ASSUMPTIONS HOLD, i.e. material behaviour must be well approximated by
elastic continuum assumptions.
20
Fracture Mechanics
Fracture Toughness

21
Fracture Mechanics
Example

A steel ship deck plate is 30 mm thick and 12 m wide. It is loaded with a nominal
uniaxial tensile stress of 50 MPa. It is operated below its ductile-to-brittle transition
temperature with 𝐾𝐼𝐶 equal to 28.3 𝑀𝑃𝑎 𝑚. If a 65-mm-long central transverse
crack is present, estimate the tensile stress at which catastrophic failure will occur.
Compare this stress with the yield strength of 240 MPa for this steel.

22
Fracture Mechanics
Example

A steel ship deck plate is 30 mm thick and 12 m wide. It is loaded with a nominal
uniaxial tensile stress of 50 MPa. It is operated below its ductile-to-brittle transition
temperature with 𝐾𝐼𝐶 equal to 28.3 𝑀𝑃𝑎 𝑚. If a 65-mm-long central transverse
crack is present, estimate the tensile stress at which catastrophic failure will occur.
Compare this stress with the yield strength of 240 MPa for this steel.

23
Fracture Mechanics
Example

The stress at which catastrophic failure occurs is

24
Fracture Mechanics

Questions

25