Behavior of Materials in Service

Lecture 4
 The bend test for brittle materials

 In a ductile material, the stress-strain curve shows a

maximum at the tensile strength, not at the point of
failure (or, the breaking strength).

 In a brittle or moderately ductile material, the maximum

load occurs at the point of failure.

 In extremely brittle materials (e.g., cast irons, ceramics),

the yield strength, tensile strength and breaking strength
are all have about the same value.

stress-strain behavior of brittle materials

compared with that of more ductile materials

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 The bend test for brittle materials
 In many brittle materials, the normal tensile test cannot easily be performed due to the
 presence of flaws
 difficulties in gripping the test sample
 high cost in preparing tensile test bar
 One approach used to minimize these problems is the bend test.
 Bend test - Application of a force to the center of a bar that is supported on each end to determine
the resistance of the material to a static or slowly applied load.

 Flexural strength or modulus of rupture (MOR) - The stress required to fracture a specimen in
a bend test.

 Flexural modulus - The modulus of elasticity calculated from the results of a bend test, giving the
slope of the stress-deflection curve.

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 Since cracks and flaws tend to remain closed in compression, brittle materials are mostly tested in a
compression test, not a tensile test.

(a) Three point and (b) four-point bend test setup

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(a) the set-up of 3-point bend test for brittle materials

Stress-deflection curve for

MgO obtained from a bend test
(b) the deflection δ obtained after bending

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 Ductile vs. Brittle Materials

• Ductile materials - extensive plastic deformation and energy absorption (“toughness”) before
fracture

• Brittle materials - little plastic deformation and low energy absorption before fracture

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 Fracture
 Separation of a body into pieces due to stress, at temperatures below the melting point.

 Steps in fracture:
crack formation
crack propagation
 Depending on the ability of material to undergo plastic deformation before the fracture
two fracture modes can be defined - ductile or brittle

 Ductile fracture - most metals (not too cold):

 Extensive plastic deformation ahead of crack
 Crack is “stable”: resists further extension unless applied stress is increased

 Brittle fracture - ceramics, ice, cold metals:

 Relatively little plastic deformation
 Crack is “unstable”: propagates rapidly without increase in applied stress

Ductile fracture is preferred in most applications (why???)

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 Ductile vs. Brittle Fracture

A. Very ductile, soft metals (e.g. Pb, Au) at room temperature, other
metals, polymers, glasses at high temperature.

B. Moderately ductile fracture, typical for ductile metals

C. Brittle fracture, cold metals, ceramics.

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 Ductile Failure vs. Brittle Failure

Ductile Failure Brittle Failure

Extensive plastic deformation Very little plastic deformation at
ahead of advancing crack the crack front

High energy absorption before Little energy absorption before

failure (high toughness) failure (low toughness)

Process proceeds relatively slowly Crack advances extremely

as the crack length extended rapidly

Such crack is stable (i.e., it resists Such crack is unstable and crack
any further deformation unless an propagation, once started,
increased stress is applied) continues spontaneously

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 Ductile Fracture (Dislocation Mediated)
Steps in Ductile Fracture:

(a) Necking

(b) Formation of micro-voids (cavities)

(c) Coalescence of micro-voids to form

elliptical crack

(d) Crack propagation by shear

deformation

(e) Fracture

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 Dislocation (Brief Idea)

 The regular lattice in which atoms in a metal are arranged can contain line-like
defects called dislocations. The dynamics of dislocations is the underlying
mechanism for the plastic deformation of metals.

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 Brittle Fracture (Limited Dislocation Mobility)

 No appreciable plastic deformation

 Crack propagation is very fast
 Crack propagates nearly perpendicular to the direction
of the applied stress and yields relatively flat fracture
surfaces.

 Crack often propagates by cleavage – breaking of atomic

bonds along specific crystallographic planes (cleavage
planes).

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 Fractographic Study of Brittle Fracture
Origin of cracks

V shaped “chevron” markings

Origin of cracks

Radial fan shaped ridges

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 Brittle Fracture

A. Transgranular fracture: Fracture cracks pass through grains.

Fracture surface have faceted texture because of different
orientation of cleavage planes in grains.

B. Intergranular fracture: Fracture crack propagation is along

grain boundaries

(grain boundaries are weakened or embrittled by impurities

segregation etc.)

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 Brittle Fracture

For most brittle crystalline materials, crack propagation corresponds to the successive and repeated
breaking of atomic bonds along specific crystallographic planes; such a process is termed cleavage. This
type of fracture is said to be transgranular (or transcrystalline), because the fracture cracks pass through
the grains.

Macroscopically, the fracture surface may have a grainy or faceted texture, as a result of changes in
orientation of the cleavage planes from grain to grain. This cleavage feature is shown at a higher
magnification in the scanning electron micrograph of Figure A.

In some alloys, crack propagation is along grain boundaries; this fracture is termed intergranular.
Figure B is a scanning electron micrograph showing a typical intergranular fracture, in which the three-
dimensional nature of the grains may be seen.

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 Brittle Fracture
 The tendency for brittle fracture is increased with

 decreasing temperature
 Increasing strain rate
 Tri-axial stress conditions (usually produced by a notch)

 Brittle fracture is to be avoided at all cost because it occurs suddenly without any
warning and usually produces disastrous consequences.

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 Impact Fracture Testing
(testing fracture characteristics under high strain rates)

Two standard tests, the Charpy and Izod, measure

the impact energy (the energy required to
fracture a test piece under an impact load), also
called the notch toughness.

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 Ductile to Brittle Transition Temperature (DBTT)

• Pre-WWII: The Titanic • WWII: Liberty ships

Disastrous consequences for a welded transport ship, suddenly split across

the entire girth of the ship (40˚F). The vessels were constructed from steel
alloys that exhibit a DBTT  room temp

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 Ductile-to-brittle transition
As temperature decreases a ductile material can become brittle .

Ductile-to-brittle transition: Alloying usually increases the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature. FCC metals
remain ductile down to very low temperatures. For ceramics, this type of transition occurs at much higher
temperatures than for metals. The ductile-to-brittle transition can be measured by impact testing: the impact energy
needed for fracture drops suddenly over a relatively narrow temperature range – temperature of the ductile-to-
brittle transition.

impact energy drops suddenly

over a narrow temperatures
range
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 Factors affecting DBTT curves
• The shape and position of the DBTT curve is important because it determines the
transition temperature, which indicates where it is safe to use for the required
application.
• There are several factors affecting the DBTT curve.

• Crystal structure
• Interstitial atom
Metallurgical Factors
• Grain size
• Heat treatment
• Specimen orientation
• Specimen thickness

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 Effect of crystal structure
• Only BCC structure materials experience ductile to brittle transition temperature. be careful to select the
service temperature.
• This is due to limited active slip systems operating at low temperature. very low plastic deformation.

• Increasing temperature allows more slip systems to

operate more plastic deformation.

• FCC and HCP metals do not experience ductile to

brittle transition, therefore they give the same energy
absorption at any temperatures.

Relationship between energy absorption

and test temperature

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 Effect of interstitial atom
Carbon and manganese contents have been observed to change the DBTT curve.

Carbon Become ductile at

Higher Transition temp
content higher temperature

Ex: In steel-

• Mn : C ratio should be at least

(3:1) to satisfy notch toughness.

• P, Si, Mo, O raise the transition

temperature while Ni is beneficial
to notch toughness.

Effects of carbon content on DBTT

curves for steel
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 Effect of grain size
• Grain size has a strong effect on Ductile-Brittle transition temperature.

Grain size DBTT

DBTT for ferritic steels

• Reducing grain size shifts the DBTT curve to the left has a wider range of service temperatures.
• Heat treatments that provide grain refinement such as air cooling, recrystallization during hot
working help to lower transition temperature.

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