Master of Engineering

(Mechanical)

MME501: Materials for Engineers

Tutorial

Topic 4
Failure Mechanisms

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Topics
1. Mechanical failure
2. Fracture and fracture mechanics
3. Flaw theory
4. Fatigue of engineering materials
5. Goodman’s theory
6. Creep and relaxation

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 Mechanical Failure

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Mechanical Failure
Question:
When a small incision or cut has been made into the edge of a plastic
package that has to be opened, a minimal force is required to tear the
package open.
Explain the significance of this phenomenon in brief terms.

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Mechanical Failure
Answer:
This phenomenon is related to one of the basic concepts of fracture
mechanics, i.e. an applied tensile stress is amplified at the tip of a
small incision or notch.

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Mechanical Failure
Case Study: Fracture in oil tanker:
• The photograph below shows a fractured oil tanker.

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Mechanical Failure
• The brittle nature of the crack is as a result of the propagation of a
crack completely around its girth.
• This crack started as some type of small notch or sharp flaw.
• As the tanker was buffeted about while at sea, the resulting
stresses became amplified at the tip of this notch or flaw to the
degree that a crack formed and rapidly elongated.
• This ultimately resulted in complete fracture of the tanker.

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Fracture and Fracture Mechanics

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Quiz 1
What type of fracture is associated with intergranular crack
propagation?

a) Ductile
b) Brittle
c) Either ductile or brittle
d) Neither ductile nor brittle

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Quiz 1
What type of fracture is associated with intergranular crack
propagation?

a) Ductile
b) Brittle
c) Either ductile or brittle
d) Neither ductile nor brittle

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 Flaw Theory

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Flaw Theory
Problem:
A relatively large plate of a glass is subjected to a tensile stress of 40
MPa.
The specific surface energy and modulus of elasticity for this glass are
0.3 J/m2 and 69 GPa, respectively.
Determine the maximum length of a surface flaw that is possible
without fracture.

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Flaw Theory
Solution:
• Critical stress σc required for crack propagation in a brittle material
is given by:

E is modulus of elasticity = 69 GPa

ƴs is the specific surface energy = 0.3 J/m2
Tensile stress σ = 40 MPa

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Flaw Theory
• Rearranging the equation, we get:

• Substituting the values in the equation above:

• The maximum flaw length, a = 8.2 × 10-6 m= 0.0082 mm = 8.2 μm

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Fatigue of Engineering Materials

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Quiz 2
Identify the wrong statement from the below:

a) Beachmarks are macroscopic in dimensions.

b) Beachmarks are also called clamshell marks.
c) Striation width depends on, and increases with, increasing stress
range.
d) Striations are found for components that experienced
interruptions during the crack propagation stage.

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Quiz 2
Identify the wrong statement from the below:

a) Beachmarks are macroscopic in dimensions.

b) Beachmarks are also called clamshell marks.
c) Striation width depends on, and increases with, increasing stress
range.
d) Striations are found for components that experienced
interruptions during the crack propagation stage.

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Fatigue of Engineering Materials
Question 2:
List four measures by which fatigue life of a component can be
enhanced.

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Fatigue of Engineering Materials
Answer:
• Reducing the mean stress level.
• Eliminating sharp surface discontinuities.
• Improving the surface finish through polishing.
• Case hardening by using a carburising or nitriding process.

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Fatigue of Engineering Materials
Case Study: Landing Gear Failure:
• This investigation relates to a Cessna L19 Bird Dog aircraft that had
suffered the failure of an axle in the landing gear when it landed on
rough terrain.
• An insurance claim was made on the basis that the overloading
induced by the rough terrain had caused the axle to fail, as there
had been no prior problems with it.
• The failed axle is shown.

Fractured axle

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Fatigue of Engineering Materials
• The failure showed a relatively flat area on one side, with the bulk
of the fracture surface being a slant or shear fracture.
• The initial fracture was by fatigue, but the question raised was if
this had developed during the landing and taxiing on rough ground
or whether there had been prior cracking.
• Initial area of fracture contained a series of ridges, these being
beach marks, that are apparent to the right, as shown, on the
generally flat fatigue crack area.

Fracture surface, the arrow

indicates the origin area

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Fatigue of Engineering Materials
• The first figure shows the crack origin area, with multiple crack
origins, while the second shows the fatigue striations some
distance in from the origin.

Multiple initiations of fatigue cracks Striations on the fatigue fracture surface

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Fatigue of Engineering Materials
• Based on the observed striation spacing of the order of 0.5 x 10-4 to
1.5 x 10-4 mm/cycle and a crack length of approximately 3 mm, the
number of cycles to grow the crack can be estimated as being of
the order of 30,000.
• Thus, the crack did not result from the landing, but had initiated
some time previously.
• There was evidence of a number of beach marks indicative of a
number of periods when crack growth was interrupted, with
evidence of local tensile overload fracture at these bands
• Therefore, it was concluded that the fatigue cracking had been
present for a considerable time, including a number of take-off and
landing cycles.

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Fatigue of Engineering Materials
Case study: Fatigue failure of a bent deoxidised high phosphorus
(DHP) copper tube, working in a refrigerating system

(a) Stereo-micrograph showing the fatigue crack (stepwise propagation) on the bent tube surface
(b) Stereo-micrograph of the tube fracture surface, showing multiple crack initiation sites and beach marks

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Fatigue of Engineering Materials

Higher magnification of the fracture surface where fine fatigue striations can be clearly seen

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Fatigue of Engineering Materials
Conclusions:
• The pulsating loads applied due to alternating pressure conditions
and the residual stresses imposed during bending constitute
synergistic parameters of the imminent fatigue fracture.
• The stepwise crack extension fashion, denoted by the presence of
ratchet steps, is a plausible indicator of stress concentration on the
outer bent area.

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 Goodman’s Theory

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Goodman’s Theory
Goodman’s Theory is an equation used to quantify the
interaction of mean (average) and alternating (range) stresses on
the fatigue life of a material.
• Because of brittle nature of failure, Goodman proposed the safe
design stress for steady stress should be extended to Su/Nfs instead
of Syp/Nfs in Soderberg’s equation.

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Goodman’s Theory
Find a suitable titanium alloy.
1.5 mm Radius

F 42 mm DIA 30 mm
DIA F
+ F varies from 20 to 30.3 kN
MAX = 30.3
30.3 − 20
alt = = 5.15 kN
2
Force

MIN = 20
30.3 + 20
mean = = 25.15 kN
2
Time
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Goodman’s Theory
Mean stress:
25,150 N
σm = = 35.6 MPa
π
(30 mm )2
4

Alternating stress:
5,150 N
σa = = 7.3 MPa
π 𝐾𝐾𝑡𝑡 is the geometric stress
(30 mm )2 concentration factor which
4 is function of r/d
Stress concentration:

D 42 mm r 1.5 mm
= = 1.4; = = .05 ⇒ K t = 2.3
d 30 mm d 30 mm
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Goodman’s Theory

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Goodman’s Theory
• Sn data is not available for titanium, so we will assume Sn = Su/4 for
extra safety factor.
• Try T2-65A, Su = 448 MPa, Sy = 379 MPa
K t σa σm 1
+ =
S′n Su N
2.3(7.3 MPa) 35.6 MPa 1
+ = = .297
.8(.86)( 448 MPa / 4) 448 MPa N
1
Geometry factor N= = 3.36
.297
Load factor
Reliability 50%

• 3.36 is good, but further information is needed on Sn for titanium

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 Creep and Relaxation

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Quiz 3
Which of these two is a dominant design consideration for a nuclear
power plant component that is scheduled to operate for a very long
time?

a) Steady-state creep rate

b) Time to rupture
c) Both a) and b)
d) Neither a) nor b)

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Quiz 3
Which of these two is a dominant design consideration for a nuclear
power plant component that is scheduled to operate for a very long
time?

a) Steady-state creep rate

b) Time to rupture
c) Both a) and b)
d) Neither a) nor b)

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Creep

• Materials are often placed in service at elevated

temperatures and exposed to static mechanical
stresses. Deformation under such circumstances
is termed creep.
• Creep is a progressive time-dependent plastic
deformation, which leads to final failure with
potential destructive consequences.

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Creep and Relaxation
Case study: Creep failure of superheater pipes (ferritic steel 15Mo3 grade,
working at 500ºC approximately)

Macro-fractographic observations performed on the pipe ruptured lips

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Creep and Relaxation

Elongated dimples corresponding to the initial grain orientation to the original pipe metal
forming operation are evidenced

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Creep and Relaxation

Large equiaxed cavities developed from the growth and linking of creep voids of a smaller
size

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Creep and Relaxation
Conclusions:
• The evolution of cavitation is, therefore, a significant fingerprint of
creep damage evolution across the pipe wall.

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References
• W. D. Callister, D. G. Rethwisch, Materials Science and Engineering
• George Pantazopoulos, “A Short Review on Fracture Mechanisms of
Mechanical Components Operated under Industrial Process
Conditions: Fractographic Analysis and Selected Prevention
Strategies”, Metals 2019, 9, 148; doi:10.3390/met9020148
• https://www.researchgate.net
• https://res.mdpi.com/metals
• engr.bd.psu.edu

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 End of Topic 4
Any questions or comments?

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