UNIT 21: MATERIALS ENGINEERING

Unit code: F/601/1626

QCF level: 4
Credit value:

15

LEARNING OUTCOME 4
TUTORIAL 1
On successful completion of this unit a learner will:

Understand the in-service causes of failure of engineering materials

Causes of failure: failure of material categories (metals: ceramics, polymers and composites) e.g. creep,
fatigue, impact, overstressing, corrosion, temperature, thermal cycling, residual stresses, stress relaxation,
degradation (composition change), radiation, electrical breakdown, or combinations of these
Service life: contributory effects of service conditions to failure e.g. inappropriate maintenance,
inappropriate use, faults in manufacture, material selection and design faults, changes in service conditions
such as environment, loading and temperature.
Estimation: methods of investigating failure and the preparation of estimates of product service life that
require the use of calculations e.g. creep or fatigue failure
Improving service life: recommending remedial and/or preventative measures e.g. changes to material,
product design, protective systems for corrosion and degradation, adjustment loading arid working
temperature
RECOMMENDED READING
It is impractical to think that a tutorial like this could adequately cover all the things you need to know.
Pictures and diagrams which cannot be copied here are available at the various web links in this tutorial.
The ones below are very helpful and might be used to help you complete any assignments and assessments
your tutor sets for you.
Practical Plant Failure Analysis: A Guide to Understanding Machinery ... By Neville W. Sachs
Forensic Materials Engineering: Case Studies by Peter Rhys Lewis, Ken Reynolds, Colin Gagg
Doug Bailey-Fatigue and Failure Analysis, International
Surescreen who has kindly allowed use of their pictures and it contains lots of useful material on failure
analysis.
This link is a dissertation on some types of failure.
This is a document that you can download and might have been written for this module. It has examples and
pictures of failed metal marine structures.

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CONTENTS
1. SERVICE LIFE
2. CAUSES OF FAILURE
2.1 Reason in General
2.2 Overstressing
2.3 Creep
2.4 Fatigue
2.5 Notch Sensitivity and Brittle Failure
2.6 Stress Corrosion
2.7 Sudden Loading and Impact
2.8 Spalling
2.9 Wear
2.10 Thermal Shock and Stress
2.11 Radiation Degradation
3. FAILURES IN POLYMERS
4. FAILURES IN COMPOSITES
5. ELECTRICAL FAULTS

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1. SERVICE LIFE
Any component, machine or structure should have a designed life span. Sometimes it requires regular
maintenance to achieve this (for example a motor car). Sometimes it is expected to last without maintenance
(e.g. electrical/electronic components). The life span may be reduced by improper use such as the wrong
environment. On the other hand, the service life can be improved by using techniques to prevent failure such
as lubrication, surface coating and anti corrosion measures.
There is a statistical probability of failure of parts and assemblies due to random affects. The most likely
times for equipment to fail in service are when new and when they wear out from old age. A graph of failure
rate and time produces a bathtub curve typically as shown which has the shape of a section through a
bathtub.

The bathtub curve describes the relative failure rate of a large number of products over time. It is a model
more suited to mass production of components or products and it is not thought to be a good model for
complex machines that can be maintained like aircraft. Early failure is sometimes called infant mortality
failure. The rest are intended to last until they wear out. Some will fail during the intended life span. Early
failures are highly undesirable and are nearly always caused by defects and assembly errors. A product
manufacturer must assure that all specified materials are adequate to function for the intended life span.
Premature failure could be due to faults in the material, a faulty batch of components or faulty assembly.
Testing is essential to ensure the design is good enough and when mass production takes place, suitable
testing of samples must occur to enable production to be halted if a problem is found. This is a whole new
topic of study and not covered here.
In the case of things that are not mass produced, failures are less predictable as design faults may not show
up until some time after going into service (such as creep and fatigue for example). This is why structures
must be inspected thoroughly. Adequate material testing and certification of quality may be vitally
important. Inspection of welds for example is essential to avoid premature failure due to slag inclusions,
failure to fuse the root and so on. Non Destructive Testing (NDT) is another area of study not covered here
but widely used on aircraft and structures during inspection.
Premature failure is sometimes the result of changing environmental conditions. For example the Sea Gem
disaster occurred when the legs of an oil rig in the North Sea collapsed suddenly. It was determined that the
disaster was due to material failure caused by corrosion, brittle fracture due to temperature change, and
cyclic loading on the legs due to the wave nature and weather conditions of the changed environment.
Previously the rig had operated in the Caribbean with no problem. You can download a report on this at this
link.

The following sections should help you decide the life span of a given component and show you the reasons
why they might fail prematurely.
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2. CAUSES OF FAILURE
2.1 GENERAL REASONS
Material testing is covered in outcome 1 tutorial 4 so if you have studied this you will already have a good
idea about why components and structures fail in service. Failure may be defined as a component or
structure that is no longer able to perform its design function. Things that fail in service do so because the
limitations of the material have been exceeded. This may lead to fracture, yielding, distortion, wear,
corrosion and so on. This may be due to the following reasons.

Design Fault - for example stress raising features like undercuts.

Wrong Selection of Material - for example choosing a material that corrodes.
Processing Problems - for example machining marks that act as stress raisers and defects in welds.
Defects in Material - for example slag inclusions that act as stress raisers.
Assembly Errors - for example over tightening of a screw placing residual stress in the component.
Improper Service Conditions - for example degradation due to corrosion or temperature. The
component/structure will have a design service life and this may be increased by suitable treatment
during its service life. On the other hand the service life may be reduced because of lack of treatment
or repair to damage.
Overloading - for example lifting loads beyond the design limit and over pressurisation of
containers.
Abuse for example using something for other than its intended purpose like using a screw driver as
a chisel.

Now we will review the reasons and types of failure and look at some examples.
2.2 OVERSTRESSING
Overstressing normally refers to mechanical stress but can refer to other things such as
overloading an electrical device (e.g. the burned out electronic resistor shown).
All material failures are due to the stress limits being exceeded for one reason or another. This could simply
be that too much load has been applied or that the stress limitation has been reduced by other factors such as
wear, degradation, creep and so on. The way mechanical stress is calculated is covered in other tutorials and
cannot be repeated here. They are usually based on complex stress conditions and theories of failure.
Overstressing could also include things like wear which occurs because stresses in the surface are exceeded.
Overstressing will cause a variety of failure forms from sudden to gradual. The pictures below show
examples of parts that have failed due to mechanical overstress.

Fractured casing
www.surescreen.com

Sheared pump shaft

Tensile fracture of over tightened bolt

Stripped screw thread

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Ruptured pressure vessel

Broken chain link

2.3 CREEP
Creep is a phenomenon where some materials change shape (usually growing longer) over a period of time,
when a constant stress is applied to it. The material may well fail although the tensile stress is well below
the ultimate value. The structure may fail because the dimensions of the component change over a long
period of time. Most materials will not creep at all until a certain stress level is applied. This level is called the
LIMITING CREEP STRESS. Metals like lead creep very easily at room temperatures and so do polymers.
This is made much worse when the polymer is warmed. Most metals and ceramics do not suffer from creep at
room temperature if they have a high melting point.

PROLONGED HIGH TEMPERATURE reduces the

limiting creep stress of metals and the hardness as shown in
the diagram. This is important in structures like steam
power plants with pipes that carry steam at high
temperatures and pressures High temperatures are also
found in various heat exchangers like super heaters and reheaters (see the example below).
HOMOLOGOUS TEMPERATURE
expresses the
temperature of a material as a fraction of its melting point
temperature using the Kelvin scale. For example lead
(Melting point 328oC) at 20oC has a homologous
temperature of
(20+273)/(328+273) = 296/601 = 0.492
A useful general rule is that creep starts to become significant in metals when the homologous temperature
is greater than 0.4. This is a very important factor in the design of TURBINE BLADES that operate as high
as 1400C. In gas turbines, the blades are subject to high temperatures and prolonged periods of centrifugal
force that causes them to creep. If the tip of the blades touches the casing, a catastrophic failure will occur.
The materials used to make gas turbine blades are nickel-based super alloys. These have high melting points
and hence a lower homologous temperature. They also have microstructures that are creep resistant. A
design feature is to keep them cool by circulating cool air through channels in the blades. Much research has
been conducted into finding creep free materials for turbines. CERAMIC materials are much less likely to
exhibit creep tendencies and there is research into composite ceramics for high temperature components.
The blades are sometimes coated with insulating ceramic. This keeps the blade temperature down to a safe
level.
A visible example of creep occurring is in tungsten light bulb filaments. The filament coil between the
supports sags under its own weight due to creep over a period of time. This leads to them blowing
eventually. The filament is supported to reduce the stress and a special tungsten alloy with small amounts of
oxygen trapped in the grain boundaries is used to slow the rate of Coble creep.
Creep rate is accelerated by exposure to energetic particles such as encountered in a nuclear reactor.
An examples of failure at least partly due to creep are plastic bottles. Creep must be considered in any
structure under constant stress such as containers for pressurised fluids. Plastic fizzy drink containers must
resist creep. Polymers suitable for such containers include PET, nylon, polycarbonate, PEN, and others.
Another example is heater exchanger tubes. In a super heater or re-heater tube, often the very first sign of
creep damage is a longitudinal crack in the steam-side scale. The tube diameter gradually expands due to
creep and the brittle scale cracks. These cracks widen and expose the metal to steam. Iron oxide forms
preferentially at the tip of the crack, as there is less oxide thickness to protect the steel. This creates a stress
raising notch where creep voids form. With continued high-temperature operation, creep cracks grow and
ultimately weaken the cross section to the point where failure occurs. A commonly used design criteria for
steel heater tubes is the rupture stress that produces 1% creep deformation after 100 000 hours.
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Creep failures are characterized by:

bulging or blisters in the tube

thick-edged fractures often with very little obvious ductility
longitudinal "stress cracks" in either or both ID and OD oxide scales
external or internal oxide-scale thicknesses that suggest higher-than-expected
temperatures inter-granular voids and cracks in the microstructure

Picture courtesy www.surescreen.com

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SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No.1

BOILER TUBE STEEL
The tubes used in the superheater of a power station boiler have to withstand temperatures up to 600oC.
Below is a list of possible steels to be used. You might be able to access the material properties on
Matweb by clicking on them below but you must be registered and signed in. Determine the maximum
design stress that can be used in the tubes to ensure that CREEP RUPTURE does not occur in less than
100 000 hours of operation.
ASTM A213 Alloy steel grade 12
ASTM A387 Alloy steel grade 12
ASTM A213 T12 Alloy Steel
ASTM A213 T2 Alloy Steel

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No.2

The tubes of a waste heat exchanger are to be made from seamless steel A312TP 321H. The tubes have
water on the outside and combustion gasses on the inside. The maximum temperature of the steel will
be 650oC. The creep data for 1% creep is shown on the chart below for clean seamless tube (Note do
not take this as accurate it is roughly reproduced from data sources).
What is the maximum stress for 100 000 hour life?
What other factors should be taken into account in estimating the life?
What are the properties of this steel that makes it suitable for the application?
If the operating temperature is raised to 670oC with the same stress level, what will be the approximate
life?

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2.4 FATIGUE FAILURE

Fatigue is a phenomenon that occurs in a material that is subject to a cyclic stress. Although the peak stress
in each cycle is less than that needed to make the material fail in a tensile test, the material fails suddenly
and catastrophically after a certain number of cycles.
Here are some examples of things that are subject to cyclic stress.

Railway lines that bend every time a wheel passes over it.
Gear Teeth.
Springs.
The suspension cable on a suspension bridge every time a vehicle passes over it.
The skin and structural members of an aeroplane every time it flies.
A shaft with a pulley belt drive.
The connecting rod and crank shaft in a reciprocating engine.
The stub axle on a vehicle wheel.

The properties to look for in material selection are fatigue strength and endurance limit which are
explained in outcome 1 tutorial 4.
FATIGUE CRACK FORMATION
Click on pictures to see full size.
Pictures courtesy of www.surescreen.com
An important design feature of any component is to avoid the things that
raise the stress level in the material. The crack usually starts at some defect
within the material or on the surface. For example, an undercut in a shaft for a
circlip or a hole for a pin would cause stress concentration. Any fault in the
material such as a slag inclusion will also initiate a crack. Undercuts should have
rounded corners to reduce this to a minimum.
If the material is ductile, the initial crack will not spread easily and the crack opens
up and closes as the stress fluctuates. This wears the surface of the crack smooth.
As the crack progresses, new material is exposed which starts to wear smooth.
When the crack has spread enough to reduce the cross sectional area of the
material to a point where it can no longer carry the load, sudden failure occurs.
Often the fracture has an OYSTER SHELL appearance (also called BEACH
MARKINGS). These are smooth at the initiation point and rough in the most
recently exposed area (top picture).
The middle picture shows a fatigue failure with RIVER MARKINGS pointing to
the initiation point (middle picture). River markings are cracks that start on several
different layers and join to form a pattern like a river and its tributaries. They are
most commonly found in high strength materials.

The lower picture shows a fatigue failure in torsion of a shaft.

Cracks spread more easily in brittle material, especially at cold temperatures and
failure is sudden. This is indicated by large area of freshly exposed material as
the crack spreads quite rapidly.

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2.5 NOTCH SENSITIVITY and BRITTLE FAILURE

In Mechanical Engineering some design faults seem to be repeated despite much documentation on how to
avoid them. One that seems to keep reoccurring is stress raising notches and brittle failure. Classic examples
go back to the failure of the LIBERTY SHIPS during the 1940s due to square hatches in the all welded steel
construction. A combination of brittle failure caused by the welds and type of steel resulted in cracks
spreading from the corner of the hatches and zipping unopposed through the structure resulting in some
extreme cases in the ship breaking in half. A cure was rounded corners and riveted plates to stop the crack
propagating. (A web search will bring up details and pictures).
The lesson had not been learned when the first jet air liner to go into service broke up in flight. The COMET
had square windows and other faults caused a crack to start at the corner and combined with fatigue due to
constant pressurisation and depressurisation of the cabin, caused catastrophic failure.
The diagram shows the stress concentration at the corner of a groove. The ratio of the raised stress level to

the normal stress level is called the stress concentration factor. k f

o
There are ways of determining values of kf for specified cases but this is not covered here. A crack will start
at some point that causes a stress concentration. The picture shows a fatigue fracture that started at a keyway
in a shaft. The diagram illustrates the stress concentration at the corner of a groove.

RESIDUAL STRESSES are constant stresses placed in the material in addition to the cyclic stress. If these
are compressive they may be beneficial as they stop the cracks opening up. This might be compression as in
a column or thermal expansion as in a hot pipe. Residual tensile stress will hasten fatigue failure and might
be due to bending in a structure or a suspended load. Residual stresses might be created by heat treatment.
Surface working of a component by peening or shot blasting to place a compressive layer in the skin is often
used to improve fatigue life.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No.3

A shaft on a motor used to raise and lower loads is
subject to a stress variation with every revolution. It
has a stepped shape to accommodate a bearing. The
smaller diameter is 50 mm and the stress
concentration factor of 1.6. If the design life of the
shaft is based on the stress being below the endurance
limit, what is the maximum bending moment
variation allowed. The material is 1045 steel and the
fatigue characteristic is shown.
The shaft is subjected to load changes that raise the stress by 50% every time the machine is used and
this lasts for an estimated 4 revolutions each time. What is the number of shock loads it can expect
before failure?

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2.6 STRESS CORROSION

STRESS CORROSION CRACKING occurs when there is
both a corrosive environment and a tensile stress. The process
usually starts in a pit as illustrated below and the tensile stress
opens any crack in the surface. Corrosion acts on the exposed
crack so that it progresses to failure. The stress may be direct,
cyclic (corrosion fatigue) or residual. Different metals are
prone to different corrosive atmospheres. Micro cracks might
be placed in the metal during manufacture (e.g. deep drawing
and other forms of cold working). The crack may well progress
quickly and undetected producing sudden failure.
Alloys seem more prone to this than pure metals. Even stainless steel is prone to
it. The top picture shows a crack in a stainless steel tank due to stress corrosion.
The lower picture is a close up of a cut cross section and shows how the crack
progresses into the metal.

CORROSION FATIGUE occurs when corrosion gets into a

fatigue crack and helps it to spread. It may occur when fatigue
causes a crack in the protection layer and allows corrosion to act
at that point.

2.7 SUDDEN LOADING AND IMPACT FAILURE

When a load is applied suddenly, the stress levels can for a short period of time dramatically exceed that
caused by the same static load. This must be taken into consideration at the design stage. In ductile materials
the energy of the impact may be absorbed by plastic deformation or even plastic yielding. This can lead to
structural failure. In brittle materials the failure might be a sudden and total fracture. If the structure is
already prone to fatigue, repeated sudden impacts will accelerate the process.
Examples are:

Vehicle suspension components for example when a car hits a bump

Things that vehicles drive over for example bridges, drain covers, railway lines and so on.
Cranes and any lifting device for example when a load is accelerated or decelerated too quickly.
Bumpers (Fenders) on vehicles must be able to absorb impacts.

The most extreme consequence of sudden shock loading results in fracture. This can be a catastrophic
failure mode and it is common in brittle materials, such as ceramics.
Impact wear occurs when a material is smashed by being impacted or worn away by repeated impacts. An
example is in shot blasting where the impact is from small particles (erosion). It can also cause small cracks
and chunks of material falling out of the surface.
Impact fretting is damage caused to a surface when another slides over it in and judders (gripping and
detaching).This causes both fretting and impact damage and accelerates wear.

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2.8 SPALLING
Spalling or flaking in masonry (brick, concrete or natural stone)
occurs when water enters the surface substrate and forces it to peel,
pop out or flake off. Eventually, spalling can cause crumbling and
destruction of a structure. The process can be caused by corrosion
in steel reinforcement pushing the surface apart.
In other materials spalling is the deterioration of a surface due to fragments breaking away. There are
several reasons for this involving the formation of fatigue cracks underneath the surface. Cracks can also be
caused by shock waves from repeated impacts
which produce localised stress large enough to
cause the cracks in the surface layer. Thermal
shock produces similar effects. Spalling can
occur in metals or ceramics or even surface
coatings. Typical examples of failure occur in
armour materials, gear teeth, and bearings. The
pictures show spalling on a gear tooth, the first
one is a section through the tooth.
2.9 WEAR
No matter how hard we try, we cannot produce a surface which is perfectly smooth and flat. If we look at a polished
surface under a microscope we see it is covered in microscopic canyons and mountains. Consequently, when two
surfaces come into contact, only the high points touch. If a force is applied to squeeze the surfaces together, the points
will yield and spread until there is enough area to take the load. The area of contact will increase directly with the
load. If the surfaces are perfectly clean, the points of contact weld together. In order to make the surfaces slide, the
points must be sheared. It follows that the friction force depends upon the shear strength of the materials and that
materials with low shear strength such as Teflon, PTFE, graphite and Indium, have low friction.

Wear is a loss of surface material due to rubbing between two surfaces. The shearing of the high points will
cause the surface to wear away. If one surface is harder than the other, the material is removed from the softer
material and adheres to the harder material. You can see this for yourself if you rub a steel block on a copper
plate. This is called adhesive wear and is also called scoring, scuffing or galling. In extreme cases the two
surfaces become welded and this is called seizure.
When the surfaces are stationary, the bonding between the surfaces produces static friction which must be broken in
order to get the body moving. Once moving the friction comes down slightly and this is sliding friction. Sometimes
the welds continually join and break producing a juddery motion. This is called stick - slip friction or fretting
mentioned earlier. Even the slightest change to the surface structure (e.g. oxidation) will reduce the welding and
hence the friction. A suitable surface coating may well be enough to avoid wear or in some cases surface heat
treatment (e.g. carburising and surface hardening for steel). H ard coatings of ceramics such as tungsten-carbide-

cobalt can be a solution. In mechanisms it is important to get the choice of materials correct to avoid
premature failure due to friction and wear.

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Abrasive wear is caused by abrasive particles (e.g. stone dust) becoming

trapped between the surfaces that gouge up the surface of the softer material
as shown.
Energy loss and wear of surfaces is costly and should be avoided. The science of
reducing friction and wear is called TRIBOLOGY. The main ways of reducing them
are to use lubrication but this is not to be studied here.

Friction generates heat and this has an effect on the wear rate because it affects the microstructure of the
material and in extreme cases it may cause one material to melt (e.g. white metal bearings). In other cases
fragments become detached and may end up in the lubricant (if it is used). Typical items affected by wear
are bearings, cams, and gears which have very high contact pressure.
Corrosive Wear occurs when corrosion on the surface causes rapid
decomposition and this is a problem with base elements. Protective
coatings would prevent this but if abrasion occurs the coating may be
lost exposing the base material. Corrosion products such as oxide
particles may accelerate the abrasion.
The picture shows extensive pitting corrosion in a bronze material
underneath a chromium layer that has peeled off.
Pictures courtesy of www.surescreen.com
Surface Fatigue Wear or contact fatigue occurs when the force
squeezing the surfaces together varies such as occurs with rolling
components (e.g. train wheel on a railway line). This is made worse if
there is unevenness in the surface causing impacting. Gear teeth are
subject to a rolling and sliding motion with very high contact pressure
that comes and goes with every revolution.
The fatigue causes the formation of cracks just below the surface starting at
several points that merge and grow back toward the surface causing pits to
form and the loss of surface material. The picture shows a close up of the
surface fatigue cracks in a chain link that has been sectioned.

2.10 THERMAL SHOCK and STRESS

Thermal shock failure occurs when the temperature in a structure or
component is very different between two or more regions causing uneven
thermal expansion. This sets up strain and hence stress that may exceed
the strength of the material. If the material is brittle like ceramics, the
component may shatter. Pottery has to be heated slowly and cooled
slowly to avoid thermal shock. Some electronic components like ceramic
capacitors (see diagram) may fracture when the contacts are soldered.
Small cracks created in manufacture may propagate in use due to the
electrical power cycling on and off.
Thermal shock can also cause crazing in surface layers such as lacquer and enamel when the coated
component is suddenly cooled or heated.

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Many engineering components are made from ceramics because of their ability to work at high
temperatures. The heat resistant properties of ceramics are measured by the temperatures at which they
begin to melt, and by their levels of thermal shock resistance. One method of testing for thermal shock
resistance is to drop samples into water. Typical results on engineering ceramics are:
Silicon Nitride Si3N4 550oC
Silicon Carbide SiC 400oC
Zirconia ZrO2 400oC
Alumina Al2O3 200 oC
Silicon nitride is thus suitable for applications involving extreme temperature variations, and in hightemperature industries such as metal manufacturing and energy generation
Thermal expansion can also cause failure by setting up stresses when expansion is resisted for example by
fixing a pipe rigidly at two points. Railway lines use to have gaps in them to allow expansion but modern
railways pre-stretch the lines so that there is a residual tensile test that is relieved by thermal expansion.
Boilers and heat exchangers are prone to fracture as the structure is complex with many pipes and vessels
welded into structures so great care must be taken to avoid stresses due to uneven expansion and restrained
expansion. You can download and read a full article on this subject at this link.

Thermal shock may also cause fracture in things like pipes and shells that are subject to sudden heating or
cooling e.g. a pipe that is suddenly filled with hot steam. Welded joints are most likely to suffer in this way
due to changes in the structure and especially if there are defects. The picture shows a section through a
weld that has failed due to poor root fusion and thermal shock.

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2.11

RADIATION DAMAGE

Degradation of exposed materials often comes as a result of radiation of many types. Polymers are
especially susceptible to radiation even at low energy levels, such as UV radiation. Damage from radiation
in polymers usually manifests itself as bleaching and brittleness leading to cracking. For this reason,
polymers have been known for their problems in outdoor applications, where they are constantly exposed to
UV radiation. UV blockers, absorbers and stabilizers are often added to polymers used for outdoor
applications to augment their ability to withstand incident radiation energy. Coloured polymers are
particularly susceptible to fading.
Nuclear Reactors produce an extremely hostile environment for materials because they are exposed to heat,
stress, corrosion and radiation. Materials are needed that can withstand this extreme environment. Exposure
to high radiation alone causes significant damage on a nano scale level. High-energy radiation, such as
neutrons in a nuclear reactor can damage almost any material including metals, ceramics and polymers.
Typically, when a material is subjected to high-energy radiation its properties are altered through structural
mutation in order to absorb some of the energy that is incident on the material. For instance, when a metal is
exposed to neutron radiation the atoms are displaced resulting in the creation of defects. These defects can
diffuse and coalesce to create crack initiation sites or can simply leave the metal brittle and make the metal
swell and harden leading to catastrophic failure.
OVERVIEW OF RADIATION AFFECTS ON STEEL
Property
Effect of Radiation Damage
Yield strength
Increases
Ductility
The plastic range is reduced
Ultimate tensile strength
Some increase but less pronounced than the increase in yield strength
Ductile-brittle transition This increases significantly. In reactor vessels it is a problem when the reactor
temperature
vessel cools on shut down and the internal pressure is still high. Fracture can
occur if this is not taken into account.
Youngs modulus
Small increase
Hardness
Increases
High-temperature
creep Increases during irradiation.
rate
Stress-rupture strength
Decreases
Density
Decreases as the material swells on irradiation
Impact strength
Decreases.
Thermal and Electrical Decrease because the lattice becomes more disordered
conductivity
At Trawfynydd nuclear power station in Wales (UK) the steel shell received twice the neutron
bombardment of any other Magnox reactor and so it was thought there would be enhanced irradiation
embrittlement. After decommissioning a specially designed robot was used to cut samples that were tested
mainly for brittle failure. As a result, the life of other Magnox reactors was extended.
Metals are often better suited to withstand radiation energy than are ceramics. Typically, the ductility,
thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity are negatively impacted when a metal is exposed to
radiation.
Ceramics are affected by radiation to varying extents depending on the type of inherent bonding (i.e.
covalent or ionic). Ionic bonded ceramics exhibit decreased ductility, thermal conductivity and optical
properties, but the damage can be reversed with proper heat treatment (similar to metals). Covalent bonded
ceramics experience similar damage; however the damage is somewhat permanent.
Plastics especially PVC are prone to degradation in sunlight. PVC Pipes and conduits are affected by
Ultra Violet radiation. Other than the visible discoloration, the main affect is to reduce the IMPACT
STRENGTH. Exposed pipes and conduits can be protected by painting or wrapping. Chemical attack is
another cause of premature failure.
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FAILURE IN POLYMERS

There are many characteristics of plastics which if not taken into account can lead to unexpected failure.
Defining failure as a situation in which the product does not perform as it was intended, plastic components
can fail in a variety of ways from a change in colour to catastrophic fracture. The following in part is
repeated information relating to polymers.
DESIGN FAULTS
Stress raising features such as holes, use of metal inserts,
undercuts and threads. Use appropriate fillets and radii to avoid
stress raising features (see diagram).
Insufficient strength and stiffness due to wall thickness. Use
stiffening ribs and bosses as appropriate.
Excessive wall thickness this can initiate failure especially if there are abrupt changes. It is best to
maintain a uniform wall thickness to prevent voids, warping and moulded-in stresses.
Defects in the moulding process such as shrinkage, dimensional tolerance, poor melt flow and so on.
The wrong placement of the injection gates can cause failure. Sharp corners also cause moulding
defects as it is hard to force the polymer into a corner.
Poor material selection.
Not understanding the application such as what environment it will be used in resulting in
degradation and creep for example.
Secondary joining and assembly processes such as welding, mechanical fastening and
adhesive/solvent welding.
A designer should understand the material basics such as the behaviour of visco-plastic materials which
have a non-linear stress-strain relationship. Their properties change with time and the speed of change is
affected by the temperature and the rate of straining. These materials will stretch a lot if pulled slowly but
break easily when pulled quickly. With these materials it is important to remember:
Plastics will deform under load.
When subject to low stress and strain a ductile to brittle transition will occur at some point in time
resulting in brittle failure.
When subject to cyclic stress a ductile to brittle transition will occur resulting in brittle failure at low
stress level.
Premature initiation of cracking and embrittlement of a plastic can occur due to the simultaneous
action of stress and specific chemicals.
PROCESSING FAULTS
Processing accounts for many in-service failures. This is usually due to ignoring established procedures and
material manufacturers instructions. This in turn is often due to the need to achieve speed and quantity to
save money. In the processing due attention must be given to variables such as temperature, flow rates,
cooling times and pressure. Common faults include:

Use of wrong equipment

Non-uniform wall thickness
Short shots, Bubbles, Sink marks
Post-moulding shrinkage
Warping / distortion
Foreign body contamination
Voids, Cosmetic discolouration, splay marks
Degradation-insufficient drying of material, process
temperature too high, residence time in the barrel too long,
shear heating, too much regrind.

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Self-contamination (e.g. part-melted granules).

Poor material homogeneity, weld lines & spider lines
Residual stress
Molecular orientation
Development of low or excessive crystallinity
Abnormal crystalline texture
Insufficient packing, Scorching, Jetting, Flashing
Abnormal spatial & size distribution of phases in
composites

FAILURE MODES
Failure modes of plastics are mechanical, thermal, radiation, chemical and electrical. Classification of
failure mode by mechanism shows that mechanical failure is the predominant mechanism although it is
often preceded by one or more of the other classifications.
Mechanical Deformation and distortion due to creep and stress relaxation, yielding and crazing
Brittle Fracture due to creep rupture (static fatigue), notch sensitivity
Fatigue due to slow crack growth under cyclic loading
High energy impact
Wear & abrasion

Thermal

Thermal fatigue
Degradationthermo-oxidation
Dimensional instability
Shrinkage
Combustion
Additive extraction

Chemical

Dissolution (Solvation), swelling, dimensional instability and additive extraction oxidation

Acid induced stress corrosion cracking (SCC)
Hydrolysis (water, acid, alkali)
Halogenations (reacts with halogens)
Environmental stress cracking (ESC)
Biodegradation

Radiation

Photo-oxidative degradation (UV Light)

Ionising radiation ( gamma radiation, X rays)

Electrical

Electrostatic build-up, Arcing, tracking

Synergistic

Weathering effects due to photo & thermo-oxidation, temperature cycling, erosion by rain and
wind-borne particles and chemical elements in the environment

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FAILURES IN COMPOSITE MATERIALS

The theories for calculating the stress levels in composite materials are also well documented and not part of
this tutorial. It is worth having a brief look at some of the modes of failure in composites.
Remember that a composite is a mixture of materials usually with the strong material embedded in a matrix
of weaker or more brittle material. When stressed there may be tension, compression and/or shearing and in
complex stress situations the maximum stress has to be calculated
and where it acts has to be determined. The stress may result in
the matrix cracking and in cases like concrete, there is little to
stop the cracks spreading and breaking the structure. The
reinforcements in concrete stop the matrix from separating by
resisting being pulled out and giving it some tensile strength (see
diagram on right).
In fibre matrix composites, the fibres may be bonded together in various directions to give equal strength in
all directions, or they may be laid in one direction (unidirectional) such as in carbon and glass fibre rods and
sheets. If the maximum stress is exceeded there may be matrix cracking and
if in tension the fibres may be pulled out of the matrix or the matrix may
delaminate. Fibre pullout and Delamination is caused by the weak bonding
between the fibres and the matrix. It develops inside the material, without
being obvious on the surface, much like metal fatigue.
De-bonding is the separation of the fibre from the matrix. The top image shows de-bonded glass fibres.
Delamination/Splitting is the failure mode in which cracks propagate
between the layers of the composite. In laminated materials various stress
forms such as impacting can cause the layers to separate with significant
loss of mechanical toughness (lower picture).

Compression failures - sometimes fibre composites fail at a lower stress in

compression than in tension. In the case of the fibres being laid in one
direction (unidirectional) the compressive strength is less than 60% of the
tensile strength. A number of failure modes are possible. If the matrix is weak
compression may crack the matrix but not the fibres as shown. This is due to
the shear stress induced in the matrix. The axial compressive strength of the
composite is usually relatively low, as most of the individual mechanisms of
compressive failure are dictated by matrix properties.

Another cause is imperfection in the composite such as the fibres not being straight but
wavy. Polymer matrix and carbon matrix composites have low shear strengths and
failure is usually localized compressive buckling of the fibres called micro-buckling (see
picture right). Long fibre composites are usually designed to possess a high-axial
stiffness and strength. Accordingly, the fibres are made from a strong and stiff material
such as carbon or silica glass. The matrix has a much higher toughness and lower
strength than the fibres in order to endow the composite with adequate strength and
ductility.

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Laminated glass - as the name suggests this is typically made up of 2 sheets of glass with a layer of plastic
between them so that if the outer glass is broken it does not shatter. The plastic layer can absorb water from
the edges and this causes it to become cloudy (picture below) and eventually delaminate especially if the
water freezes and expands. Some car manufactures used a system of bonding windscreens to the body and
this allowed the water in around the edges leading to failure. Cars using more expensive rubber seals to hold
them in place did not suffer from this.

Glass reinforced plastics Hulls of boats made from

GRP sometimes blister because of osmosis through the
gel coat (the outer coloured layer). The blisters occur
under the gel coat and vary in size. The blisters are filled
with fluid. Analysis indicates that a slow permeation of
water through the gel coat dissolves substances under the
gel coat. This increases the rate of water permeation by
osmosis and causes the polyvinyl acetate emulsion to
react with the water to form acetic acid. The acid then
leeches water soluble metal salts from the glass fibres.
These reactions will lead to increased osmotic pressure,
and eventually to blistering.
It is important to use experienced manufacturers for particular conditions of operation. The laminates should
be subject to accelerated testing to assess blistering resistance. Typically this involves exposure of the gel
coat to condensed water at 60 C for several hundred hours. Warm fresh water is the most detrimental
service environment for GRP craft. To defend against blistering in such an environment a powder bound
reinforcement mat should be employed rather than an emulsion bound reinforcement mat. Marine grade
resins should be used for the structural laminate as well as the gel coat. Much consideration should be given
to catalyst levels.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No.4

1. List and describe the type of faults that might occur in carbon fibre bicycle frames due to manufacturing
defects. What type of faults might occur in fibre composite components after it has been involved in an
impact that does not show up in a visual inspection?
2. List and describe the causes of delamination in plywood sheets.
3. Insulated glass fibre panels used in refrigerated freight containers were found to be responsible for
tainting the food carried in them with the smell of resin. What could be the reason(s) for this?

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5. ELECTRICAL FAULTS
It is sometimes said that there is no such thing as an electrical fault because all faults are down to
mechanical failure. This may be true but in most cases it is poor design or over loading that causing the
problem exceeding some mechanical or thermodynamic property of the material. Many failures are due to :
Dielectric breakdown
Component failure
Arc tracking/conductive path tracking
Poor quality solder joints
Floating neutrals and high voltage transients
Oxidation and corrosion of electrical connections (fretting)
Contamination of circuit boards
Circuit Breaker Spouts
Porcelain insulators have largely been replaced by polymeric based
materials. These have good electrical insulation properties but they
are subject to surface ageing and degradation. If there are
contaminants or moisture that form a conducting path for leakage
current, then arcing on the surface can occur. This produces heat
and charring of the material. This is called surface tracking. If it
keeps occurring then the charred spot may enlarge into surface
cracks and surface erosion. In the extreme a conducting path forms
resulting in an earth fault.
Contact Failure due to Sulphur Contamination
Sulphur (especially hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide) in the atmosphere can be common in many
industrial plants. Silver plated contacts on fuse holders and switches degrade with the formation of sulphide
layers on the surface. This layer has a high electrical resistance than the metal under it and can cause
overheating. In extreme cases this can produce arcing, fire and catastrophic failure.

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SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No.5

1. Coiled springs are used on shock absorbers for motor cycle and car suspension systems (typical one
shown). What are the properties required for the material and what can be done in the manufacturing
processes to avoid premature failure?

2. What are the properties required for the material used to make flat roofs typically as shown? Compare
the different materials available and compare the life expectancy of the main materials.

3. Steel components weighing 50 kg are suspended on overhead hooks and transported through a furnace
where they are heated to 800oC for hour. They are then removed and cooled for hour before the
process starts again. The system will run for 12 hours a day. The atmosphere in the furnace is that of
flue gas and is slightly corrosive.
Suggest a suitable material and find their properties. Estimate the minimum cross sectional area of the
hooks based on yield stress and the number of days they can be used before needing replacing. Explain
your reasoning and calculations throughout.
4. The picture below shows a fault with a moulded plastic component called jetting. Explain what this
means and the cause.

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5. The main body of an extrusion press shown in the diagram is a casting made from cast steel. It failed
prematurely due to fracture cracks appearing. The press is subject to cyclic internal pressure. Explain
what you would do and recommend if given the task of determining the cause.

6. The picture shows an anchor bolt and ring made from a stainless steel and used in rock climbing. It is
on the point of failing under load. Several of these have failed by breaking in both the ring and the
anchor plate when a climber has fallen. Suggest causes of failure.

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