UNIT V FRACTURE AND SAFETY OF COMPOSITE

Failure can be defined, in general, as an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose.
Failure of a material component is the loss of ability to function normally. Components of a
system can fail one of many ways, for example excessive deformation, fracture, corrosion,
burning-out, degradation of specific properties (thermal, electrical, or magnetic), etc. Failure
of components, especially, structural members and machine elements can lead to heavy loss
of lives, wealth and even may jeopardize the society! This chapter deals with the study of
failures by mechanical means i.e. application stresses.

Even though the causes of failure are known, prevention of failure is difficult to guarantee.
Causes for failure include: improper materials selection, improper processing, inadequate
design, misuse of a component, and improper maintenance. It’s the engineer’s responsibility
to anticipate and prepare for possible failure; and in the event of failure, to assess its cause
and then take preventive measures.

Structural elements and machine elements can fail to perform their intended functions in
three general ways: excessive elastic deformation, excessive plastic deformation or yielding,
and fracture. Under the category of failure due to excessive elastic deformation, for example:
too flexible machine shaft can cause rapid wear of bearing. On the other hand sudden
buckling type of failure may occur. Failures due to excessive elastic deformation are
controlled by the modulus of elasticity, not by the strength of the material. The most effective
way to increase stiffness of a component is by tailoring the shape or dimensions. Yielding or
plastic deformation may render a component useless after a certain limit. This failure is
controlled by the yield strength of the material. At room temperature, continued loading over
the yielding point may lead to strain hardening followed by fracture. However at elevated
temperatures, failure occurs in form of time-dependent yielding known as creep. Fracture
involves complete disruption of continuity of a component. It starts with initiation of a crack,
followed by crack propagation. Fracture of materials may occur in three ways – brittle/ductile
fracture, fatigue or progressive fracture, delayed fracture. Ductile/brittle fracture occurs over
short period of time, and distinguishable. Fatigue failure is the mode in which most machine
parts fail. Fatigue, which is caused by a critical localized tensile stress, occurs in parts which
are subjected to alternating or fluctuating stress. Stress-rupture occurs when a metal has been
statically loaded at an elevated temperature for a long time, and is best example for delayed
fracture.
1 Fracture, Ductile and Brittle fracture
1.1 Fracture

Fracture is a form of failure, and is defined as the separation or fragmentation of a solid

body into two or more parts under the action of stress. Fracture that occurs over a very short
time period and under simple loading conditions (static i.e. constant or slowly changing) is
considered here. Fracture under complex condition, for example alternating stress, is
considered in later sections.

The process of fracture can be considered to be made up of two components, crack initiation
followed by crack propagation. Fractures are classified w.r.t. several characteristics, for
example, strain to fracture, crystallographic mode of fracture, appearance of fracture, etc.
Table-1 gives a brief summary of different fracture modes.

Table-1: Different fracture modes.

characteristic terms used

Strain to fracture Ductile Brittle

Crystallographic mode Shear Cleavage

Appearance Fibrous and gray Granular and bright

Crack propagation Along grain boundaries Through grains

Shear fracture, promoted by shear stresses, occurs as result of extensive slip on active slip
plane. On the other hand, cleavage fracture is controlled by tensile stresses acting normal to
cleavage plane. A shear fracture surface appears gray and fibrous, while a cleavage fracture
surface appears bright or granular. Actual fracture surfaces often appear as mixture of fibrous
and granular mode. Based on metallographic examination of fracture surfaces of
polycrystalline materials, they are classified as either transgranular or intergranular.
Transgranular fracture, as the name go by, represents crack propagation through the grains,
whereas intergranular fracture represents the crack that propagated along the grain
boundaries.

The fracture is termed ductile or brittle depending on the ability of a material to undergo
plastic deformation during the fracture. A ductile fracture is characterized by considerable
amount of plastic deformation prior to and during the crack propagation. On the other hand,
brittle fracture is characterized by micro-deformation or no gross deformation during the
crack propagation. Plastic deformation that occurs during ductile fracture, if monitored, can
be useful as warning sign to the fracture that may occur in later stages. Thus brittle fracture
shall be avoided as it may occur without warning!
Since deformation of a material depends on many conditions such as stress state, rate of
loading, ambient temperature, crystal structure; ductile and brittle are relative terms. Thus
the boundary between a ductile and brittle fracture is arbitrary and depends on the situation
being considered. A change from the ductile to brittle type of fracture is promoted by a
decrease in temperature, an increase in the rate of loading, and the presence of complex state
of stress (for example, due to a notch). Under the action of tensile stresses, most metallic
materials are ductile, whereas ceramics are mostly brittle, while polymers may exhibit both
types of fracture. Materials with BCC or HCP crystal structure can be expected to experience
brittle fracture under normal conditions, whereas materials with FCC crystal structure are
expected to experience ductile fracture.

Figure-1 depicts characteristic macroscopic fracture profiles. The profile shown in figure-
1(a) is representative of very high ductility represented by close to 100% reduction in cross-
sectional area. This kind of failure is usually called rupture. It is observed in very soft metals
such as pure gold and lead at room temperature and other metals, polymers, glasses at
elevated temperatures. Most ductile metals fracture preceded by a moderate amount of
necking, followed by formation of voids, cracks and finally shear. This gives characteristic
cup-and-cone fracture as shown by figure-1(b). In this central interior region has an irregular
and fibrous appearance. Figure-1(c) presents the typical profile of brittle fracture which is
usually transgranular. It occurs in most ceramics and glasses at room temperature, long-chain
polymers below their glass transition temperatures, certain metals and alloys below their
ductile-to-brittle transition temperatures.

Figure-1: Fracture profiles.

Detailed and important information on the mechanism of fracture can be obtained from
microscopic examination of fracture surfaces. This study is known as fractography. This
study is most commonly done using SEM (scanning electron microscope). Common
microscopic modes of fracture observed include cleavage, quasi -cleavage, and dimpled
rupture. Characteristic feature of cleavage fracture is flat facets, and these exhibit river
marking caused by crack moving through the crystal along number of parallel planes which
form a series of plateaus and connecting ledges. Quasi-cleavage fracture is related but
distinct from cleavage in the sense that fracture surfaces are not true cleavage planes. This
often exhibit dimples and tear ridges around the periphery of the facets. Dimpled rupture is
characterized by cup-like depressions whose shape is dependent on stress state. The
depressions may be equi-axial, parabolic, or elliptical. This dimpled rupture represents a
ductile fracture. Table-2 distinguishes two common modes of fracture.

Table-2: Ductile Vs Brittle fracture.

Parameter Ductile fracture Brittle fracture

Strain energy required Higher Lower

Stress, during cracking Increasing Constant

Crack propagation Slow Fast

Warning sign Plastic deformation None

Deformation Extensive Little

Necking Yes No

Fractured surface Rough and dull Smooth and bright

Type of materials Most metals (not too cold) Ceramics, Glasses, Ice

1.2 Ductile fracture

Most often ductile fracture in tension occurs after appreciable plastic deformation. It
occurs by a slow tearing of the metal with the expenditure of considerable energy. It can
be said that ductile fracture in tension is usually preceded by a localized reduction in
cross-sectional area, called necking. Further it exhibits three stages - (1) after on set of
necking, cavities form, usually at inclusions at second-phase particles, in the necked
region because the geometrical changes induces hydrostatic tensil

to thee tensile axis. This angle represents the

direction of maximum shear stress that causes shear slip in the final stage. During the
shear slip, crack propagates at a rapid speed around the outer perimeter of neck leaving
one surface in form of cup, and the other
other in form of cone. Thus it is known as cup-and and-
cone fracture.
fracture. In this central interior region has an irregular and fibrous appearance,
which signifies plastic deformation. Different progressive stages of ductile fracture are
shown in figure-22.

Figure Stages of ductile tensile fracture.

Figure-2: fracture

The voids are thought to be nucleated heterogeneously at sites where further deformation
is difficult. These preferred sites mainly consists of foreign inclusions, second-phase
second phase
particles like oxide particles, or even voids those can form at grain boundary triple points
in high-purity
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
fraction of second phase particles. In addition, particle shape also has
an important influence. When the particles are more spherical than plate-like,
plate like, cracking is
more difficult and the ductility is increased. This is because dislocations can cross slip
around
ound spherical particles with ease than around plate-like
plate like particles thus avoids buildup
of high stresses.

More details of fracture mechanism can be obtained from fractographic study of the
fracture surface. At high magnification under microscope, numerous spherical dimples
separated by thin walls are found on the ductile fractured surface. This is an indication
that surface had formed from numerous holes which were separated by thin walls until it
fractures. Dimples formed on shear lip of cup-and
cup and -cone
cone fracture
fracture will be elongated
attaining parabolic shape which is indication that shear failure took place.
 Ductile fracture is not particularly important in terms of mechanical behavior because it
usually is associated with good toughness. However, McClintock’s analytical treatment
of ductile fracture resulted in the following equation, which gives strain to fracture, εf,

for a material with a stress-strain curve given by σ Kε n , and σa, σb are stresses parallel and
perpendicular to the axis of the cylindrical holes respectively, σ¯ is the true flow stress, b0 is
initial radius of cylindrical holes and l0 is the average spacing of holes. The equation indicates
that ductility decreases as void fraction increases, as the strain-hardening exponent, n, decreases.
This is the consequence of change of stress state from uni-axial to tri-axial tension.

1.3 Brittle fracture

The other common mode of fracture is known as brittle fracture that takes place with little or
no preceding plastic deformation. It occurs, often at unpredictable levels of stress, by rapid
crack propagation. The direction of crack propagation is very nearly perpendicular to the
direction of applied tensile stress. This crack propagation corresponds to successive and
repeated breaking to atomic bonds along specific crystallographic planes, and hence called
cleavage fracture. This fracture is also said to be transgranular because crack propagates
through grains. Thus it has a grainy or faceted texture. Most brittle fractures occur in a
transgranular manner. However, brittle fracture can occur in intergranular manner i.e. crack
propagates along grain boundaries. This happens only if grain boundaries contain a brittle
film or if the grain-boundary region has been embrittled by the segregation of detrimental
elements.

In analogy to ductile fracture, as supported by number of detailed experiments, the brittle

fracture in metals is believed to take place in three stages - (1) plastic deformation that causes
dislocation pile-ups at obstacles, (2) micro-crack nucleation as a result of build-up of shear
stresses, (3) eventual crack propagation under applied stress aided by stored elastic energy.

As mentioned earlier, brittle fracture occurs without any warning sign, thus it needs to be
avoided. Hence brittle fracture and its mechanism have been analyzed to a great extent
compared to ductile fracture. Brittle fracture usually occurs at stress levels well below those
predicted theoretically from the inherent strength due to atomic or molecular bonds. This
situation in some respects is analogous to the discrepancy between the theoretical strength
shear strength of perfect crystals and their observed lower yield strength values.

When a crystal is subjected to tensile force, separation between atoms will be increased. The
repulsive force decreases more rapidly with this than the attractive force, so that a net force
between atoms balances the tensile force. With further increase in tensile force, repulsive
force continues to decrease. At an instant, repulsive force becomes negligible because of
increased separation, which corresponds to theoretical cohesive strength of the material.
Assume that inter-atomic spacing of atoms in unstrained condition is a, and x is
change in mean inter-atomic distance. Strain, ε, is given by

And according to Hooke’s law, if E – Young’s modulus

Cohesive force can be a pproximated with little or no error using a sine curve as follows:

In figure 3.
 Figure-3:
Figure Schematic presentation of interior and surface cracks.
cracks

Griffith theory:
theory Griffith proposed that a brittle material contains number of micro-cracks
micro cracks
which causes stress rise in localized regions at a nominal stress which is well below the
theoretical
etical value. When one of the cracks spreads into a brittle fracture, it produces an
increase in the surface energy of the sides of the crack. Source of the increased surface
energy is the elastic strain energy, released as crack spreads. Griffith’s criteria
criter for
propagation of crack include these terms as: a crack will propagate when the decrease in
elastic energy is at least equal to the energy required to create the new crack surface.
surface. This
criterion is useful in determining the tensile stress which will just cause a critical sized crack
to propagate as a brittle fracture.

Elastic energy stored under tensile stress will be released as crack propagates. Part of this
energy is expended in forming the surface of the crack, while the remaining is transformed
into kinetic energy. According to Griffith, such as crack will propagate and produce brittle
fracture when an incremental increase in its length doe not change the net energy of the
system. Strain energy released in a thin plate of unit thickness is given by Inglis as follows:
where p is the work of plastic deformation at the tip of the growing crack. The surface energy
term is neglected in the above equation since plastic work values are in order of 102-103 J m-2
as compared to surface energy values whose range is 1-2 J m-2.

2 Fracture mechanics

It is a relatively new section of materials study under mechanical loading conditions. Using
fracture mechanics concept it possible to determine whether a crack of given length in a
material with known toughness is dangerous at a given stress level. This mechanics section
can also provides guide lines for selection of materials and design against fracture failures.

Orowan modified equation is further modified by Irwin to replace the hard to measure plastic
work term with other term that was directly measurable. New form of the equation
In this regard, it is important to realize that there are three basic modes of fracture, as shown
in figure- 4. Mode-I corresponds to fracture where the crack surfaces are displaced normal to
themselves. This is a typical tensile type of fracture. In mode-II, crack surfaces are sheared
relative to each other in a direction normal to the edge of the crack. In mode-III, shearing
action is parallel to the edge of the crack. To indicate different modes, it is normal practice to
add the corresponding subscript. The above example described is obviously of the mode-I.
There are two extreme cases for mode-I loading. With thin plate-type specimens the stress
state is plane stress, while with thick specimens there is a plane- strain condition. The plane-
strain condition represents the more severe stress state and the values of K are lower than for
plane-stress specimens. The fracture toughness measured under plane-strain conditions is
obtained under maximum constraint or material brittleness. The plane strain fracture
toughness is designated as KIc, and is a true material property.

Figure-4: Crack deformation modes.

While crack extension force, G, has more direct physical significance to the fracture process,
the stress intensity factor K is preferred in working with fracture mechanics because it is
more amenable to analytical determination. Both these parameters are related as:

Fracture toughness for mode-I, plane strain fracture toughness KIc, depends on many factors,
the most influential of which are temperature, strain rate, and microstructure. The value of
KIc decreases with increasing strain rate and decreasing temperature. Normally values of KIc
increases with reduction in grain size. In addition, an enhancement in yield strength generally
produces a corresponding decrease in KIc. The minimum thickness to achieve plane-strain
conditions and valid KIc measurements is

where σ0 is the 0.2% offset yield strength.

3 Impact fracture testing, Ductile-to-Brittle transition

3.1 Impact fracture testing

As mentioned in earlier section, three basic factors contribute to a brittle-cleavage type of

fracture. They are (1) tri-axial state of stress (2) a low temperature and (3) a high strain rate
or rapid rate of loading. A tri-axial state of stress, such as exists at a notch, and low
temperature are responsible for most service failures of brittle type. Since, these effects are
accented at a high rate of loading, various types of notched-bar impact tests have been used
to determine the susceptibility of materials to brittle fracture.

The changes produced by the introduction of a notch have important consequences in the
fracture process. The chief effect of the notch is not in introducing a stress concentration but
in producing a tri-axial state of stress at the notch. As a result of this tri-axial state of stress,
yield strength of a notched specimen is greater than the uni- axial yield strength because it is
more difficult to spread the yielded zone in the presence of tri-axial stresses. The ratio of
notched-to-unnotched strength is referred as the plastic-constraint factor, q. Unlike stress
concentration factor, which can reach values in excess of 10 as the notch is made sharper and
deeper, Orowan has shown that the plastic constraint factor cannot exceed a value of 2.57. It
results in notch-strengthening of a ductile material. But in a material prone to brittle fracture
the increased tensile stresses from the plastic constraint can exceed the critical value for
fracture before the material undergoes general plastic yielding. A notch, thus, increases the
tendency for brittle fracture in four important ways: (a) By producing high local stresses, (b)
by introducing a tri-axial state of stress, (c) by producing high local strain hardening and
cracking, and (d) by producing a local magnification to the strain rate.

Two classes of specimens have been standardized for notch-impact testing: (i) Charpy
specimen. It has a square cross section and contains 45 ْ V notch, 2 mm deep with a 0.25 mm
root radius. The specimen is supported as a horizontal beam, and loaded behind the notch by
the impact of heavy swinging pendulum with velocity about 5 m/sec. The energy expended is
measured in terms of change in potential energy (height) of the pendulum. The specimen is
forced to bend and fracture at a high strain rate in order of 103 sec-1. The V-notch in the
specimen provides triaxiality of stress, and the high hammer velocity insures a high strain
rate. (ii) Izod specimen. It has either circular or square cross section and contains V notch
near the clamped end. It is supported as over hanging vertical beam. Load is again applied
using swinging pendulum but in front of the notch. Figure-5 depicts loading of Charpy and
Izod specimens for notch-impact tests.

Figure-5: Loading of Charpy and Izod notched-bar impact testing specimens.

The principal measurement from the impact test is the energy absorbed in fracturing the
specimen. Energy expended during fracture is some times known as notch toughness. The
energy expended will be high for complete ductile fracture, while it is less for brittle fracture.
However, it is important to note that measurement of energy expended is only a relative
energy, and can not be used directly as design consideration. Another common result from
the Charpy test is by examining the fracture surface. It is useful in determining whether the
fracture is fibrous (shear fracture), granular (cleavage fracture), or a mixture of both. A third
measurement that can be made is the ductility, indicated by the percent contraction of the
specimen at the notch. The notched-bar impact test is most useful when conducted over a
range of temperatures. Thus it is possible to know at which temperature the ductile-to-brittle
transition is taking place. Thus the chief engineering use of Charpy test is in selecting
materials which are resistant to brittle fracture by means of transition temperature curves.
When selecting a material for design purposes which might be susceptible to brittle fracture,
the material with the lowest transition temperature is to be preferred.

Both plane strain fracture toughness and notched-bar impact tests determine the fracture
properties of materials. The former are quantitative in nature, in that a specific property is
determined. On the other hand, the results of the impact tests are qualitative in nature, thus
are of little use fro design purposes. Plane strain fracture toughness tests are not as simple to
perform as impact tests, and equipment and specimens are more expensive.

3.2 Ductile-to-Brittle transition

It is well understood that ductile and brittle are relative, and thus interchange between these
two modes of fracture is achievable with ease. The term Ductile-to-Brittle transition (DBT)
is used in relation to the temperature dependence of the measured impact energy absorption.
For a material, as the temperature is lowered, the impact energy drops suddenly over a
relatively narrow temperature range, below which the energy has a considerably lower value
as a representative of brittle fracture.

The temperature where DBT occurs is termed as Ductile-to-Brittle Transition Temperature

(DBTT). A typical variation of energy expended as a function of temperature is shown in
figure-6. From the figure it can be concluded that there is no single criterion that defines the
transition temperature. Above the DBTT, the yield strength (σy) is lower than the tensile
stress necessary to cause brittle failure (σf) i.e. σy < σf. With decreasing temperature, the yield
strength increases rapidly to the point where it equals the tensile stress for brittle failure, and
below this temperature, fracture usually occurs in brittle/cleavage mode. So, at and below the
DBTT, σy = σf. At the transition temperature, the micro-cracks that form are of critical size
for crack propagation, and at lower temperatures these cracks exceed the critical size. Over a
temperature range just above DBTT, micro-cracks formed are initially sub-critical so that
further plastic deformation and strain hardening must proceed before the tensile stress level
becomes sufficient to cause crack propagation. With further increase in temperature, micro-
cracks no longer form and fracture mode changes from cleavage to ductile.

Figure-6: Typical variation of fracture toughness as a function of temperature.

As shown in the above figure, BCC metals possess a distinct DBTT compared with other
metals. Common BCC metals are to become brittle at low temperatures or at extremely high
rates of strain. Many FCC metals, on the other hand, remain ductile even at very low
temperatures. In metals DBTT is around 0.1-0.2 Tm while in ceramics it is about 0.5-0.7 Tm,
where Tm represents absolute melting temperature. The crack propagation stress usually is
relatively insensitive to temperature. Strain rate which increases the yield strength but not the
crack propagation stress increases the DBTT. As mentioned earlier, DBTT does not have a
unique value for a given material, and is a function of several other variables such as flaw
size, strain rate, triaxiality of stress, etc. Sharp notches in the specimen provide stress
concentration centers and thus increase the DBTT. Fine grained materials have a lower
transition temperature as compared to coarse grained materials.

There are other factors which affect the DBTT for a material, for example metallurgical
factors. One of the most important is microstructure, which in turn can depend on heat
treatment practice and temperature, for example, for steels. The composition also has a very
pronounced effect on DBTT. In steels, it is found that impurities like P, Si, Mo, Cr along
with C increase the DBTT, while Mn and Ni have reverse effect.

4 Fatigue, Crack initiation and propagation

4.1 Fatigue

Failures occurring under conditions of dynamic or alternating loading are called fatigue
failures, presumably because it is generally observed that these failures occur only after a
considerable period of service. Fatigue failure usually occurs at stresses well below those
required for yielding, or in some cases above the yield strength but below the tensile strength
of the material. These failures are dangerous because they occur without any warning.
Typical machine components subjected to fatigue are automobile crank-shaft, bridges,
aircraft landing gear, etc. Fatigue failures occur in both metallic and non- metallic materials,
and are responsible for a large number fraction of identifiable service failures of metals.

A typical fatigue-fracture surface looks like the one shown in figure-7. The fatigue crack
nucleates at the stress concentration. Generally, the fatigue fracture surface is perpendicular
to the direction of an applied stress. A fatigue failure can be recognized from the appearance
of the fracture surface, which shows a smooth and polished surface that corresponds to the
slow growth of crack, when the crack faces smoothen out by constant rubbing against each
other and a rough/granular region corresponds to the stage of fast growth, after critical
conditions is attained where member has failed in a ductile manner when cross section was
no longer able to carry the applied load. The region of a fracture surface that formed during
the crack propagation step may be results in characteristic pattern of concentric rings spread
over the smooth region of the fracture surface, known as beach marks or striations, radiating
outward from the point of initiation of the failure, as shown in figure-7. Beach marks (also
known as clamshell pattern) are macroscopic dimensions and may be observed with the
unaided eye. These markings are found for components that experienced interruptions during
the crack propagation stage. Each beach mark band represents a period of time over which
crack growth occurred. On the other hand fatigue striations are microscopic in size and
subject to observation with the electron microscope (either TEM or SEM). The relatively
widely spaced striations are caused by variations in the stress amplitude during the life of the
component. On a much finer level, a large number of striations may be sometimes being
seen. The width of each striation here is equal to the distance by which the crack grows
during one cycle. Any point with stress concentration such as sharp corner or notch or
metallurgical inclusion can act as point of initiation of fatigue crack.

Figure-7: Schematic of fatigue fracture surface.

Three basic requisites for occurrence of fatigue fracture are: (a) a maximum tensile stress of
sufficiently high value (b) a large enough variation or fluctuation in the applied stress and (c)
a sufficiently large number of cycles of applied stress. The stress cycles that are evident in
fatigue studies are characterized using many parameters, such as mean stress, alternating
stress, stress ratio and amplitude ratio. If the applied stress varies between σmax and σmin,
There are as many ways of conducting a test to measure fatigue as there are ways of applying
repeated stresses to a metal. A specimen of rotating beam type is often used because of its
simplicity. In a fatigue test, the premium output is number of cycles required to fracture the
specimen at a given stress. If the maximum tensile stress applied is only slightly less than the
yield strength (or tensile strength), test will run only a few cycles. Continues reduction of the
stress greatly increases the life of the specimen, hence fatigue data is usually presented by
plotting maximum stress (S) against number of cycles to fracture (N), using a logarithmic
scale for the latter variable. This form of curve, S-N curve, shown in figurer-8, is significant
because there is a stress below which the specimens do not fracture. This limiting stress is
called fatigue limit or endurance limit (σe), below which fatigue will never occur. Fatigue
limit can be related to tensile strength of the material, and the ratio of fatigue limit to tensile
strength is known as endurance ratio. Most steels have distinct fatigue limit, and is usually
about 0.4-0.5 of tensile strength i.e. endurance ratio=0.4-0.5. Unlike steels, most nonferrous
metals do not have a fatigue limit i.e. S-N curve continues to fall steadily with decreasing
stress, though at a decreasing rate. Thus, fatigue will ultimately occur regardless of the
magnitude of the applied stress. Fatigue response of these materials is specified for a number
of stress cycles, normally 107, and is known as fatigue strength. Another important parameter
that characterizes a material’s fatigue behavior is fatigue life, Nf, number of cycles to cause
fatigue failure at a specified stress level.

Figure-8: Typical S-N curves for ferrous and non-ferrous metals.

The S-N curve in the high-cycle region is some times described by the Basquin equation:

where σa is the alternating stress or stress amplitude and p and C are empirical constants. It
will be generally found that there is a considerable amount of scatter in the results. Thus
fatigue life and fatigue strength are considered as statistical quantities. It has been observed
that scatter in fatigue life decreases with increase in stress. The statistical problem of
accurately determining the fatigue limit is complicated by the fact that complete S-N curve
cannot obtainable using a single specimen as specimen cannot be rested during the test.

With the exception of rotating shafts, most structural members are not subjected to
symmetrical stress cycles having a mean stress of zero. When (R = -1 for the case of
completely reversed stress) R becomes more positive i.e. with increasing mean stress, the
measured fatigue limit becomes greater (figure-.9). For a given stress amplitude, a mean
tensile stress reduces the fatigue life of a material. It has been observed that as the mean
stress becomes more positive the allowable alternating stress decreases (figure-10).

Figure-9: Dependence of fatigue limit on stress ratio.

Figure-10: Dependence of alternating stress on mean stress.

The Goodman diagram presents the dependence of allowable stress ranges on mean stress for
a material. As shown in figure-11, allowable stress range increases with increasing
compressive mean stress i.e. compressive stress increases the fatigue limit.
 Figure-11:
11: Goodman diagram.
diagram

An alternative method of presenting mean stress data is by using Heig-Soderberg

Heig Soderberg diagram in
which alternating stress is plotted against the mean
mean stress. As figure-12
figure depicts, Goodman’s
criterion appears as a straight line. Test data for ductile metals, however, follows parabolic
curve proposed by Gerber. Both these criteria can be expressed as:

where x=1=1 for Goodman line, x=2

x=2 for the Gerber parabola,
parabola, and σe is the fatigue limit for
completely reversed loading. Soderberg line presents the data when the design is based on
yield strength (σ
( 0).

Figure
Figure-12: Heig Soderberg diagram.
Heig-Soderberg diagram
4.2 Crack initiationand propagation

Based on structural changes that occur during fatigue, fatigue failure process can be
considered as made of following stages: (a) crack initiation – includes the early development
of fatigue damage that can be removed by suitable thermal anneal (b) slip-band crack growth
– involves the deepening of initial crack on planes of high shear stress. This is also known as
stage-I crack growth. (c) crack growth on planes of high tensile stress – involves growth of
crack in direction normal to maximum tensile stress, called stage-II crack growth (d) final
ductile failure – occurs when the crack reaches a size so that the remaining cross-section
cannot support the applied load.

Fatigue failures usually are found to initiate at a free surface or at internal flaws such as
inclusions where the local stress causes some heterogeneous permanent flow leading to
formation of a small crack. Fatigue failures start as small microscopic cracks and,
accordingly, are very sensitive to even minute stress raisers. It has been observed that
diffusion processes are not necessary to the formation of fatigue cracks. The initiation of a
fatigue crack does not lead to immediate failure, rather, the crack propagates slowly and
discontinuously across the specimen under the action of cyclic stress. The amount of crack
motion per cycle depends on the material and the stress level; high stresses favor larger crack
growth increments per cycle. Eventually, the crack propagates to the point where the
remaining intact cross section of material no longer can support the applied load, and further
crack propagation is rapid, leading to catastrophic failure. The final fracture surface is
composed of an area over which there was slow crack propagation and an area where the
crack moved rapidly. Final fracture can be either ductile or brittle type.

In polycrystalline metals, during a fatigue test slip lines appear first on crystal whose slip
planes have the highest resolved shear stress. As time goes on and the number of stress
cycles increases, the size and number of slip bands (clusters of slip lines) increase. The extent
and number of slip bands are also a function of the amplitude of the applied stress; higher
stresses give larger values. In fatigue, under cyclic loading, the slip bands tend to group into
packets or striations in a slip band. Each striation represents the successive position of an
advancing crack front that is normal to the greatest tensile stress. Ridge kinds of striations are
called extrusions while, while crevice striations are known as intrusions, and both tend to be
formed depending on the crystal orientation. It has been shown that fatigue cracks initiate at
intrusions and extrusions. These surface disturbances are approximately 10-3 to 10-4 mm in
height and appear as early as 1/10 of the total life of a specimen. Figure-13 depicts the slip
bands forming under static load and cyclic load. Table-3 summarizes deformation features
under static and cyclic loading.
With increasing numbers of cycles, the surface grooves deepen and the crevices or intrusions
take on the nature of a crack. When this happens, stage- I of the crack-growth process has
begun i.e. stage-I crack propagates along persistent slip bands, and can continue for a large
fraction of the fatigue life. Low applied stresses and deformation by slip on a single slip
plane favor stage-I growth. On the other hand multiple-slip conditions favor stage-II growth.
The transition from stage-I to stage-II is often induced when a slip-plane crack meets an
obstacle such as a grain boundary. The rate of crack propagation in stage-I is generally very
low on the order of nm per cycle compared with that in stage-II where it is in order of μm per
cycle. Thus, from a practical viewpoint, stage-II is of importance than stage-I. Stage-I growth
follows a slip plane, whereas stage-II growth does not have this crystallographic character.
The fracture surface of stage-I is practically featureless. On the other hand, stage-II shows a
characteristic pattern of striations, which occurs by repetitive plastic blunting and sharpening
of the crack tip. Table-4 distinguishes stage-I from stage-II crack growth.

Figure-13: Comparison of slip bands formed under (a) static loading and (b) cyclic loading.
 Table-3: Deformation under static and cyclic loads.

Feature Static load Cyclic load

Slip (nm) 1000 1-10

Deformation feature Contour Extrusions & Intrusions

Grains involved All grains Some grains

Vacancy concentration Less Very high

Necessity of diffusion Required Not necessary

Table-4: Fatigue crack growth: stage-I Vs stage-II.

Stage-I Stage-II

Stresses involved Shear Tensile

Crystallographic orientation Yes No

Crack propagation rate Low (nm/cycle) High (μm/cycle)

Slip on Single slip plane Multiple slip planes

Feature Feature less Striations

The region of fatigue fracture surface that formed during the crack propagation step can be
characterized by two types of markings termed beach marks and striations. Both of these
features indicate the position of the crack tip at some point in time and appear as concentric
rings that expand away from the crack initiation site(s), frequently in a circular or
semicircular pattern. Beach marks (some times also called clamshell marks) are of
macroscopic dimensions, found for components that experienced interruptions during the
crack propagation stage. Each beach mark band represents a period of time over which crack
growth occurred. Striations are microscopic in size, and each of it is thought to represent the
advance distance of a crack front during a single load cycle. Striation width depends on, and
increases with, increasing stress range. There may be literally thousands of striations within a
single beach mark. The presence of beach marks/striations on a fracture surface confirms that
the cause of failure in fatigue. Nevertheless, the absence of either or both does not exclude
fatigue as the case of failure.

References

1. G. E. Dieter, Mechanical Metallurgy, Third Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York,

1986.
2. R. W. Hertzberg, Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering Materials,
Fourth Edition, Wiley, New York, 1996.
3. T. H. Courtney, Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Second Edition,
McGraw-Hill, New York, 2000.