Failure analysis of a broken tooth

Several days after heart surgery, a patient discovered his upper right canine tooth had broken at the root. Such tooth damage, recognized post-operatively, is usually assumed to be caused by blunt mechanical force from an instrument used by the anesthesiologist during placement of a breathing tube at the start of surgery. In this case, the patient had saved the crown portion of the broken tooth, and it was possible to examine the root fracture characteristics. The curvature and direction of the crack path and natural tooth situation suggested that failure could be described through a cantilever beam model. This was confirmed when a whole extracted sample tooth was embedded and broken by a measured force in a manner consistent with the model. The resulting fracture surface matched that of the patient’s broken canine tooth. However, the high load and force direction necessary to fracture the root was inconsistent with forces applied during the anesthesia procedure. The failure analysis and further investigation indicated tooth clenching on the breathing tube during recovery was the likely cause of fracture. This paper presents an alternate explanation for intubation-related dental injury, demonstrates the practicality of fractographic analysis of biological materials, and introduces a methodology for simulating in vitro tooth settings for mechanical testing.     

Microstructure-related fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth behaviour in toughened, anhydride-cured epoxy resins

Fracture toughness and fatigue crack propagation (FCP) of plain and modified anhydride-cured epoxy resin (EP) were studied at ambient temperature. Liquid carboxyl-terminated acrylonitrile-butadiene (CTBN) and silicon (SI) rubber dispersions were used as tougheners for the EP. The morphology of the modified EP was characterized by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The fracture toughness, K_c, of the compositions decreased with increasing deformation rate. K_c of the EP was slightly improved by CTBN addition and practically unaffected by incorporation of the SI dispersion when tests were performed at low cross-head speed, v. Both modifiers improved K_c at high v, and also the resistance to FCP, by shifting the curves to higher stress intensity factor ranges, ΔK, by comparison with the plain EP. It was established that both fracture and fatigue performance rely on the compliance, J_R, at the rubbery plateau, and thus on the apparent molecular mass between crosslinks, M_c. The failure mechanisms were less dependent upon the loading mode (fracture, fatigue), but differed basically for the various modifiers. Rubber-induced cavitation and shear yielding of the EP were dominant for CTBN, whereas crack bifurcation and branching controlled the cracking in SI-modified EP. The simultaneous use of both modifiers resulted in a synergistic effect for both the fracture toughness at high deformation rate and the FCP behavior.     

Radiation effects on insulators for superconducting fusion magnets

Fibre-reinforced plastics (FRPs) are candidate materials for the insulation of superconducting magnet coils in future fusion reactors. This paper reports on a test programme performed to assess the mechanical properties of these materials and to obtain information on the damage and fracture mechanisms. Different types of FRPs (epoxies and poly- and bismaleimides as resins; two- and three-dimensional E-, S- or T-glass fabrics as reinforcements) were irradiated at room temperature by 2 MeV electrons and ⁶⁰Co-gamma rays up to 1.8 × 10⁸ Gy and by different reactor spectra up to a neutron fluence of 1 × 10²³ m⁻² (E > 0.1 MeV) at room temperature, 80 K or 5 K. Mechanical tests in tension as well as in the intralaminar crack opening and shear mode were carried out on the irradiated samples at 77 K. After low temperature irradiation, half of the samples were subjected to a warm-up cycle to room temperature before testing at 77 K. Results on the influence of different radiation sources and annealing cycles on the mechanical properties of these materials will be discussed.     

Nondestructive characterization of the mechanical strength of diffusion bonds. II. Application of a quasi-static spring model

It has been shown that the acoustic response of imperfect interfaces may be described by a quasi-static spring model. In the present paper, experimental data on the geometry of the contacts between two diffusion-bonded blocks have been used to determine the spring stiffness of such interfaces which have been correlated with experimentally determined ultrasonic reflection coefficients. The correlation between the theoretical reflection coefficient and the spring stiffness was found to be in excellent agreement with experimentally-observed values, if the disbonds are of infinitesimally small thickness. For disbonds of finite thickness, the agreement is less satisfactory. Reasons for the discrepancy in the latter case are unknown at the present time.     

New high-temperature copper alloys

New high-strength, high-temperature Cu-Ni-Si alloys have been developed using additions of Cr, Zr, and/or Ti. These new alloys remain as precipitation hardenable as the base alloy, but the main strengthening phase may be different than Ni₂Si (e.g., Cr₂Ti). Substantial increases in mechanical strength were observed at both room and high temperature (773 K) when additions of Cr+Zr+Ti and Cr+Zr were made. Industrial testing of these alloys indicated a sevenfold increase in the lifetime of lateral blocks in continuous casting equipment of copper alloys.     

A comparative investigation of interfacial adhesion behaviour of polyamide based self-reinforced polymer composites by single fibre and multiple fibre pull-out tests

Abstract

Interfacial adhesion of composite materials plays an important role in their mechanical properties and performance. In the present investigation, analysis of the interfacial properties of self-reinforced polyamide composites by using microbond multiple fibre pull-out test is emphasised. Microbond specimens prepared through thermal processing are tested for their interfacial properties by multiple fibre bundle pull-out tests and compared with that of traditional single fibre pull-out test specimens. Multiple fibre pull-out addresses the volume fraction as well as eliminates the possibility of fibre breakage before matrix shear. Higher scatter in the data in the samples is addressed in the present studies. FTIR and Fractographic studies are carried out for deep understanding of the post pull-out interfacial adhesion.     

Investigation of mechanical properties and fatigue life of ECARed AA5083 aluminium alloy

Equal‐channel angular rolling (ECAR) is a continuous severe plastic deformation process. In this process, severe shear strains apply to the sheet. This strain increases the yield or ultimate strength of sheet without significant change in sheet dimension. In this paper, the effect of ECAR process on mechanical properties and fatigue life of manufactured sheets will be studied. Four AA5083 samples have been prepared and annealed for obtaining stress‐free samples. Three samples have been rolled by the ECAR process with one, two and three passes of rolling, respectively. Mechanical tests including tensile test, hardness and axial fatigue tests have been carried out on prepared samples. Fatigue tests have been implemented according to a strain‐based approach with a constant strain ratio equal to 0.75 and 0.5 Hz frequency of loading. All of the tests have been carried out in controlled laboratory conditions. Results show that the ultimate tensile strength of samples increases with increasing the pass of rolling. Also, the maximum elongation of samples decreases. Maximum elongation was 17% in annealed samples, while it decreases to 10% in samples with three passes of rolling. The hardness of samples has been measured, and the results show an increase in hardness for a higher pass of the ECAR process. Fatigue test results show that fatigue life of AA5083 samples decreases in manufactured sheets of the ECAR process. Also, cyclic softening has been observed in the ECARed sample. The fracture surfaces of samples after fatigue test have been observed with a scanning electron microscope. A comparison of fracture surfaces confirms that the crack growth was intergranular in annealed samples while it changes in ECARed samples to transgranular.     

X-ray topography for fractography of single-crystal components

X-ray diffraction topography is a new tool that may help fractographic analysis of single-crystal structural materials. It is sensitive to local strain and/or crystallographic orientation and provides a unique view of single-crystal samples both before and after fracture. It can find strength-and performance-limiting surface and subsurface flaws that are undetectable by other methods or are detectable only with great difficulty and provides a complementary view of the fracture surface. The attributes of synchrotron-based X-ray topography as applied to fractography are described and illustrated with examples from recent experiments on sapphire.     

稳态扩展裂纹前缘形态的研究

利用超声波断口图技术对不同类型的带单侧贯穿裂纹的PMMA试件进行了测试,得到试件断口上的超声波线。基于ANSYS软件的有限元分析,计算了试件的三维J积分,得到的试件在不同裂纹长度下的三维J积分与它们断口图上的超声波线的形状和凸凹方向相似,将试件扩展裂纹前缘由直线调整为特定曲线后,计算出的三维J积分趋向常量,证实了扩展裂纹前缘的任一点,J积分矢量的幅值都是相同常量的假设。     

What failure analysis can do for the machine designer,operator, diagnostician,and prognostician

A competent failure analyst can often determine whether the machine design was nominally adequate with a half hour time slot for visual examination. The use of macrofractography, a specialized type of visual examination, can allow trained personnel to determine whether improper alignment or component imperfections may have contributed to an unexpected failure. Case studies will be presented. Some examples of “learning from the graveyard” and how that can facilitate improvements in design, manufacturing, and operations will be described. Reprinted with permission from Proceeding of the 58th Meeting of the Society for Machinery Failure Prevention Technology, April 2004, p. 329.