Fracture;

microscopic
aspects
 Crack nucleation
• Nucleation of a crack in a perfect crystal essentially
involves the rupture of interatomic bonds. Stress for
crack nucleation = theoretical cohesive stress (~E/30).

• Ordinary materials break at stress ~E/104, because of

the existence of surface or internal defects and the
plastic deformation that precedes fracture.
– Fracture stress in whiskers can approach the theoretical value.

• The brittleness of a material is related to the behavior of

dislocations in the region of crack nucleation.
– In brittle materials, dislocations are practically immobile.
– In semibrittle materials, dislocations are mobile, but only on a
restricted number of slip systems.
– In ductile materials, there are no restrictions on dislocation
movement.
• Ductile fracture in metals
– Nucleation, growth and coalescence of voids (usually
starts at second-phase particles)
– Dimple
– Continuous reduction in cross-sectional area (in high
purity metals)
– Shearing along a plane of maximum shear
 Pure metal under uniaxial tension

• Dislocations can move on

a large number of slip
systems.
• Crystal deforms plastically
until the start of plastic
instability (necking).
• Then, the deformation is
concentrated in the neck
until the crystal separates
along a line or a point.
• Cracks can be nucleated by the grouping of dislocations pile up
against a barrier
– Crack nucleation depends on stress relaxation at the other
side of the barrier.
• Lattice rotation associated with the bend plane and
intersection of twin boundaries can nucleate cracks.
 Cracking or cavitation at high temperature
• w-type crack • r-type cavitation
– stress concentration at – Small cavities formed at
triple junction due to GB GBs approximately normal
sliding. to the tensile stress.
• Microcavities nucleated at second-phase particles
– break of second-phase particle
– separation of particle/matrix interface
• Generally, the voids nucleate at small plastic strains. The
microcavities grow with dislocation slip. The materials between
the voids undergoes necking on a microscopic scale.
 Fracture by void nucleation, growth and
coalesence
• Nucleation, growth and coalescence of microcavities gives the
fracture appearance consisting of small “dimples”.
• “cup-and cone” fracture in cylindrical tensile specimens
• Voids are nucleated ahead of the crack.
• Void grows and eventually coalesces with the main
crack.
• The size, separation, and interfacial bonding of particles
determine the characteristics of ductile cracks, and the
ductility of the materials.
• lnAo/Af (reduction of area)
– Ao: initial cross-sectional area; Af: final cross-sectional area at
fracture point
• “Ductility” signifies a material’s capacity to undergo plastic
deformation.
• “Ductility” is not a fundamental property of a material. It depends
on the state of stress, strain rate, temperature, environment, and
prior strain history of the material.
• A high temperature (or a low strain rate) leads to high ductility. A
low temperature (or high strain rate) leads to low ductility.
• An increase in the degree of stress triaxiality results in a decrease
in the ductility of the material.
• Stress state depends on external loading, geometry of structure,
thermal stress, etc.
σ1 > σ 2 > σ 3

εo : the plastic strain at fracture

in uniaxial tension
ε1: the maximum principal
plastic strain at fracture

Tensile stress Fracture

Shear stress Plastic strain
 Brittle, or Cleavage Fracture
• Transgranular cleavage occurs by direct separation along specific
crystallographic planes by means of a simple rupturing of atomic
bonds.
– Cleavage along (100) planes in BCC structure (such as Fe)
• Tendency for cleavage fracture increases with an increase in strain
rate or a decrease in temperature.
• Ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) increases with strain
rate.
• The ductile fracture needs a lot more energy than the brittle fracture.
 Cleavage Fracture

• Adjacent grains have different

orientations. Cleavage crack
changes direction at GB.
• Shinny appearance
• River markings
– Cleavage steps can be
initiated by the passage of
screw dislocation.
– Cleavage step is parallel to
the crack propagation
direction.
– Crack change direction at
various points along GB.
– As the crack propagates, the
steps will group together to
form river pattern.
 Formation of cleavage steps

• River markings
– Cleavage steps can be
initiated by the passage of
screw dislocation.
– Cleavage step is parallel
to the crack propagation
direction.
– Crack change direction at
various points along GB.
– As the crack propagates,
the steps will group
together to form river
pattern.
 Cleavage Fracture

• Normally, FCC metals do not show cleavage. A

large amount of plastic deformation will occur
before the stress necessary for cleavage is
reached.
• Cleavage is common in metals with BCC (Fe, W,
Mo, Cr) or HCP (Zn, Be, Mg) structure.
• Quasi cleavage: cleavage on a fine scale and on
not well defined crystallographic plane.
– Seen in quenched and tempered steels.
– The real cleavage planes are replaced by small and ill-
defined “cleavage facets” that initiate at carbide particles.
– River markings are not observed
• Intergranular fracture: crack follows GB.
– Bright and reflective appearance on a macroscopic scale.
– It tends to occur when GBs are more brittle than the crystal
lattice.
– Examples: sensitized stainless steel, carbide film along GBs in
steel, segregation of P or S on GBs in steel
• Failure by cleavage and by ductile means are competing
mechanisms.
– When cleavage cracks form and propagate at a greater rate than
plastic deformation, the material fails in a brittle manner.
• A reduction in grain size causes a reduction in DBTT.
– Both yield stress and fracture stress increase with a reduction in
grain size.
– Yield stress (σy) decreases with increasing temperature.
– Cleavage stress (σc) is not dependent on temperature.
 Toughening mechanisms for ceramics

• Addition of fibers
– Crack bridging, crack
deflection, fiber pullout
• Addition of a second-phase
that transforms at the crack
tip with a shear and
dilational component.
– Reducing stress
concentration at crack tip
• Production of microcracks
ahead of the crack
– Crack branching, distributing
the strain energy over a
larger area
• To eliminate, as much as possible, flaws in the
material.

K Ic = σ πa

For a common ceramic

having fracture toughness
of 4MPa√m, a reduction in
flaw size from 1 to 0.1 mm
can increase the tensile
strength from 16 to 56
MPa.
Compressive, tensile, flexural strength of ceramics
• It is the inability of ceramics to undergo plastic
deformation that is responsible for the different
mechanical behavior between metals and ceramics. This
makes ceramics much stronger but less resistance to
crack propagation.

• The compressive strength of ceramics is close to 10

times of their tensile strength.

• The low ductility and low resistance to crack propagation

are responsible for the great difference between the
compressive and tensile strength of ceramics. In metals,
the difference is relatively small, because failure is often
initiated only after considerable plastic deformation.
• Crack branching (bifurcation)
– As the impact velocity increases, the extent of
crack branching increases.
 Sources of flaws in ceramics
• The strength of ceramics is mainly determined by
the concentration and size of flaws in it.
Effect of grain size on strength of ceramics
• In ceramics, the flaw size (2a) is often related to
the grain size (D), 2a = D.
K Ic
σ=
πD 2
Compressive failure in brittle materials by axial splitting
 Compressive fracture of brittle materials

• Failure of brittle
materials under
compression is activated
by existing flaws.
• It involves the formation
of localized regions of
tension in the material.
• The compressive
failure of brittle
materials is strongly
affected by lateral
confinement
(stresses transverse
to the loading
direction).
 Thermally induced fracture in ceramics
• The anisotropic effect of expansion on microcracking affects the
strength of ceramics in a manner that is dependent on grain size.

1 2
=
D1 D2

σ = K Ic =
K Ic
πa π2
σ = k K Ic( D )
Smaller grain size, higher tensile
strength