Introduction to Fracture

Mechanics
Fracture
Simple fracture is the separation of a body into two
or more pieces in response to an imposed stress
(i.e., constant or slowly changing with time) and at
temperatures that are low relative to the melting
temperature of the material.

The applied stress may be tensile, compressive,

shear, or torsional
 For engineering materials, two fracture modes are
possible: ductile and brittle.

Ductile materials typically exhibit substantial plastic

deformation with high energy absorption before
fracture. On the other hand, for brittle materials,
there is normally little or no plastic deformation
with low energy absorption accompanying a brittle
fracture.
 Any fracture process involves two steps:
crack formation and propagationin response to an
imposed stress.

The mode of fracture is highly dependent on the

mechanism of crack propagation. Ductile fracture is
characterized by extensive plastic deformation in
the vicinity of an advancing crack.

Furthermore, the process proceeds relatively slowly

as the crack length is extended. Such a crack is
often said to be stable.
 It resists any further extension unless there is an
increase in the applied stress.

In addition, there will ordinarily be evidence of

appreciable gross deformation at the fracture
surfaces (e.g., twisting and tearing).
 On the other hand, for brittle fracture, cracks may
spread extremely rapidly, with very little plastic
deformation.

Such cracks may be said to be unstable, and crack

propagation, once started, will continue
spontaneously without an increase in magnitude of
the applied stress
Stress Concentration
flaws are detriment to the fracture strength
because an applied stress may be amplified or
concentrated at the tip of defect, the magnitude of
this amplification depending on crack orientation
and geometry
 Safety Factor for Design

Using the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength is sufficient

for most designs, but its not a guarantee that catastrophic
failure will not occur, which youll be held legally accountable
as the professional engineer responsible for the design.

Current design methods for safety and performance use the

fracture toughness of a material.

The basic premise in using fracture toughness, or fracture mechanics

in design is to assume that materials have defects or cracks in
them.

The material property that resists the propagation of these cracks is

the fracture toughness.
 Strength is resistance to plastic flow and thus is
related to the stress required to move dislocations
through the solid. The initial strength is called the
yield strength. Strength generally increases with
plastic strain because of work hardening, reaching a
maximum at the tensile strength. The tensile
strength is related to the strength of atomic bonds.

Toughness is the resistance of a material to the

propagation of a crack. A material with low
fracture toughness, if it contains a crack, may fail
before it yields. A tough material will yield, work
harden even when cracked the crack makes no
significant difference.
The flaws in materials are also called Stress raisers
due to their ability to increase local stresses.
The Mechanics of Fracture

K c Y c
Constant
Average stress (i.e.
depending on Crack size
away from crack)
geometry/loading
 K c c

K c 1.1 c

K c p c

FL
K c 3 2 c
bw

K c 0.7 c
Internal penny shaped crack
Fatigue
Random Cyclic stress
Retired Aircrafts