Lec.

Khalid Al-Janabi
Brittle Fracture and Impact Properties

A great deal of attention was directed to the brittle failure of welded ships -
.and tankers
Failures occured during winter months and when the are in heavy seas and -
.anchored at dock
This fact focussed on that normally ductile mild steel can become brittle -
.under certain conditions
Therefore, researches aimed to understand the mechanism of brittle fracture -
.and fracture in general
While the brittle failure of ships concentrated great attention to brittle failure -
.in mild steel
Brittle failures in tanks, pressure vessels, pipelines, and bridges have been -
.noticed
:There are five kinds of fracture in metals based on the nature of process
,Ductile .1
,Brittle .2
,Adiabatic shear .3
,Creep .4
Fatigue fracture .5

:Three basics factors contribute to a brittle-cleavage type of fracture

triaxial state of stress .1
Low temperature .2
High strain rate or rapid rate of loading .3

There are circumstances under which certain ductile materials behave as -

.brittle
Two important cases of this type of failure (i.e. brittle failure of ductile
:materials) are
.Fatigue failure 1
.Brittle fracture 2
Common examples of catastrophic failures of structures caused by brittle -
:fracture are
Welded ships & tankers made of mild steel (during World War II) -
-.Rails of railways during cold winter periods
Brittle fractures in steel structures usually occur without visible or audible -
.warnings at stresses less than nominal Sy value
Such fractures usually initiate at sharp notches and crack-like defects, and may
subsequently propagate through a complete structure at faster than speed of
.sound

Brittle Fracture
Radiating pattern of markings is important as they point back towards the -
origin of fracture, allowing the point of crack initiation to be traced (Fig.
.below)

Fig. 2 shows the crack initiation and propagation with herringbone type -
surface markings. The direction of crack propagation is the opposite to the
.direction of crack initiation

Impact Properties
Many engineering components are subjected to suddenly applied loads and -
.they are expected to transmit or absorb this impact load
The energy of impact load can be absorbed by part as elastic or plastic
.deformation
In design stage, it is aimed that this energy of impact load is absorbed as -
.elastic deformation
After load is passed, this elastic strain is released or transmitted, and the
.structure does not suffer permanent deformation
However, the elastic range may be exceeded due to unexpected service -
conditions or faulty design. In such cases, most ductile metals exhibit some
:plastic deformation in two ways
.it can redistribute the stress (thus, reducing harmful effects 1
the visible appearance of plastic deformation itself can be a warning for .2
.taking further precautions
In a brittle metal structure, no noticeable deformation is observed and -
.fracture happens without warning
Due to this fact, necessary cautions must be taken when using brittle metals
.(e.g. using large safety factors)
However, serious problems can arise when a ductile metal fractures in a -
.brittle manner without any prior plastic deformation
Many metals which show a ductile behaviour in static tensile tests exhibit a
.brittle behaviour under impact loading at low temperatures
Thereby, the information from tensile tests is not enough to predict the
.behaviour in such cases
The property of a material relating to work required to cause rupture is -
.toughness, which depends on the ductility and ultimate strength

It is known that a high-rate of loading results in an increase in strength, but a

reduction in ductility. When forces are applied suddenly for very short time
.intervals, another effect of such forces is to produce stress waves

- .Not all materials respond in the same way to variations in strain rate
For instance, a slowly applied point load shatters the glass while a high-speed
.bullet punctures a fairly clean hole
Similarly, sealing wax behaves in a ductile manner at low strain rate, but snaps
.into two under a sharp blow
The toughness of a material does not vary greatly over a considerable range -
in striking velocity. However, above some critical speed (varying from
material-to-material), the energy required for rupture of a material appears to
decrease rapidly. This critical velocity is associated with rate of propagation of
.plastic strain and is effected by the specimen length
In elastic region, velocity of plastic wave propagation in a cylindrical bar -
:(Vp) is

Velocity of stress wave (Vp) should be distinguished from the velocity of -

:particles in stressed zone (Vx)

Following equation shows that stress (S) depends on particle velocity (Vx) in -
:addition to E and ρ

Specimen Shape
The specimen shape also has a marked effect upon its capacity to -
resist impact loads. A plain ductile bar will not fracture under an
impact load at normal temperatures. If the specimen is notched,
.fracture can happen under a single blow
Many different notch configurations used in impact tests are -
suggested in ASTM E23 & DIN 50115. However, Charpy and Izod
are the two standard classes of specimens used for notched-bar
.impact testing (Fig. below)

Impact Testing (Pendulum Type)

In pendulum type impact testing, the impact load is produced by swinging of
an impact weight (W = m * g) from initial height (h0) through the arc of a
circle, thus striking and fracturing the notched specimen (Fig. 4). After that,
the weight reaches maximum height (h1). Neclecting frictional losses, the
:energy used to fracture the specimen (U) is then approximately defined as
The absorbed energy (U), indicated on the scale of tester, is expressed in -
joule (i.e. N*m) or kg*m in metric system and in inch-pounds in British
.”system. This energy value is sometimes called “impact toughness

Charpy and Izod Type Impact Tests

The Charpy specimen is supported at the ends and struck in the middle(Fig. 5)
However, the Izod specimen is a cantilever beam with a notch on the tension
.side to ensure fracture when the impact load is applied (Fig.below)

Charpy and Izod type impact tests bring out the notch behavior (Brittleness vs
.Ductility) by applying a single overload of stress
The notch behavior in an individual test applies to specimen size, notch
geometry and testing conditions. Thus, such a behavior cannot be generalized
.to the other specimen sizes or conditions
Diagram of Impact Testing Machine
Procedure - Notched specimens are held in a vice and are struck by a
.weighted pendulum
The energy absorbed in breaking the test piece is measured and a value for-
.toughness is given
The height that the pendulum swings to after breaking the specimen -
.indicates how much energy was absorbed

The Izod Test

-,Specimen is held vertically
-Notch is facing the pendulum
-Striking energy of 167 Joules
-I’ for Izod and the specimen‘
-.’stands in the vice like an ‘I

The Charpy Test

- ,Specimen is held horizontally
-,Notch is facing away from the pendulum
Striking energy of 300 Joules – greater than the Izod because the -
,pendulum is released from a higher position
-A different striker is fitted for this test – a knife edge striker

Fractur Impact
 Factors Affecting Impact Properties
- .Impact toughness values are greatly influenced by the testing conditions
The most pronounced is the effect of temperature on notch behaviour of *
.material
Tangential striking velocity should not be less than 3 m/s nor more than 6 *
.m/s
Rigidity of testing machine and its parts are important since some energy *
.is absorbed by the machine itself
:Temperature.1
The notched-bar impact test has the greatest importance in determining
.“ductile-to-brittle transition” of a metal
This transition occurs at a temperature below which the material is brittle and
fractures with a low energy absorption & low ductility, and above which it is
.ductile

The transition actually covers a range of temperatures in which degree -

.of brittleness increases gradually as temperature falls
It is very difficult to make a universal definition of transition temperature as -
two different materials having the same transition temperature may have
.different failures
-.Therefore, there are many definitions of this temperature

:The definitions of transition temperature (Fig. below) are as follows

Ta:The average temp. corresponding to minimum impact strength (15 ft/lb).

Tb: The lowest temp. (Fracture Transition Plastic - FTP) at which the
.specimen exhibits 100% shear fracture
Tc:The temp. (Fracture Appearance Transition Temperature - FATT) at which
.50% of fracture is ductile

:The average temp. between ductile and brittle fracture, i.e. (Tb+Tf)/2. Td
Te:Like Ta, it is a special temp. (Ductility Transition Temperature - DTT)
.based on an arbitrary low-impact energy toughness
:The temp. (Nil Ductility Temperature - NDT) for 100% brittle fracture. Tf

:Composition.2
In metals, the impact testing is mostly applied to steel, testing of nonferrous
.materials is seldom
:The main factors influencing brittleness of steels are -
.composition, heat treatment and section size
.The greater is the hardness, the higher is the transition temperature -

Considering the effect of composition in steels, carbon content plays important

.role (Fig. below)

The optimum combination of properties in quenched and tempered low alloy

.steel occurs for 0.3 - 0.4 % C
Grain Size: As the grain size increases, transition temperature increases .3
and fracture stress decreases. Thereby, it is possible to improve ductility and
.toughness of steel by obtaining ultrafine grain size

.Microstructure: 4
The shape of carbide precipitates in steel has a great effect on impact
.toughness
A tempered martensitic structure has the best combination of strength and
fracture toughness. Tensile properties of such structures of the same carbon
content and the same hardness are alike, but great variations in their impact
.toughness with temperature
Orientation: The orientation of test bar in a formed product affects both .5
the impact energy and the value of Fracture Appearance Transition
Temperature,FATT, as well as the tensile ductility. For rolled products,
.orientation does not have a great influence on FATT

:Effect of specimen orientation of Charpy transition-temperature curves Fig

Ductile-to-Brittle Transition (Embrittlement)
Hydrogen Embrittlement: Hydrogen produces severe embrittlement in .1
many metals. Even very small amount of hydrogen can cause cracking in steel
and titanium. It may be introduced during melting and entrapped during
solidification, or it may be picked up during heat treatment, acid pickling,
.electroplating or welding
Temper Embrittlement: Tempering some steels within 450 - 590 °C results.2
in temper brittlement, which is manifested by increase in impact transition
temperature. It is due to segregation of certain elements to grain boundaries,
.giving local hardening to fracture
Blue Brittleness: Low-carbon steels exhibit two types of aging which .3
causes an increase in transition temperature: quench aging & strain aging.
Strain aging is the slow increase in hardness in steels finished by cold work
(mainly cold rolling). Blue brittleness is attributed to strain aging caused by
.heating cold worked steel to around 205 °C
Impact Testing of Plastics
:The impact tests for plastics can be divided into two groups
.a) using instruments where energy is imparted by a swinging pendulum
.b) using free-falling weights or other impactors to impart energy
The pendulum type machines are similar to those used for testing metals, but
smaller in size and capacity to comply with low-energy requirements of
.plastics
.Charpy and Izod type plastic specimens were given in Fig.below
:As a standardized type, ISO Charpy specimen is
a rectangular bar (120 mm long, 15 mm wide, 10 mm thick), which can be
.tested without or with rectangular notch (2 mm wide and 3.3 mm high)

-:It is more difficult to interpret the results of impact testing for plastics
.The test may be too severe (may cause brittle behavior unrealistically) .1
The test result may be dependent more on crack propagation resistance than .2
.ability to resist crack initiation
.Test conditions may give misleading results even on a comparative basis .3
.Test conditions may probably be unrelated to service conditions .4