Statistical scatter in the fracture toughness and Charpy impact energy of pearlitic steel

The effect of microstructure on the fracture characteristics of high carbon hypo eutectoid steel was studied under conditions of quasistatic and dynamic loading. Experimentally determined sets of fracture toughness and Charpy impact energy values were statistically treated. A relationship was found between fracture toughness and Charpy impact energy. In the very brittle domain, the fracture toughness increases slightly with increasing Charpy impact energy. In the domain where the fracture toughness is higher, the rise in fracture toughness with increasing Charpy impact energy is more pronounced. Detailed SEM examination of fractured compact tension (CT) and Charpy V-notch (CVN) specimens showed that the fracture at ambient temperature occurred almost exclusively by cleavage. There were no visible differences in the morphology of cleavage facets on the fracture surfaces of Charpy and CT specimens. Mechanisms of cleavage initiation were revealed by the fractographical investigation of fracture surfaces. Whereas the fracture surfaces of broken CT specimens exhibit a number of cleavage origins, the fracture surfaces of CVN specimens usually show only one.     

Dynamic fracture toughness testing of epoxy resin filled with sio2 particles

The fracture behavior of epoxy resin used as one of electrical insulation materials is generally brittle compared with that of metals. Therefore, when epoxy resin is used as a structural material, the effect of impact loading must be taken into consideration in design. In the present study, the dynamic fracture toughness of epoxy resin filled with SiO₂ particles has been evaluated both by the absorbed energy method and by the impact load obtained from the instrumented Charpy type impact test. Therefore, the absorbed energy has been analysed to evaluate the real fracture toughness. Moreover, the influence of inertial loading on the impact load must be also considered; therefore, the dynamic fracture toughness has been evaluated by the formula taking the inertial loading effect into consideration. Thus both fracture toughness values evaluated from absorbed energy and from impact load have been compared; as a result, a good agreement has been ascertained.It is common to perform impact test on specimens with blunt notches since they are easy to be prepared. However, variation of fracture toughness with notch root radius in the brittle material cannot be ignored. Therefore, the influence of notch root radius on the fracture toughness has been examined. As a result, it has been ascertained that the variation of fracture toughness with notch root radius follows the formula presented by Williams.     

Prediction of prestraining effect on fracture toughness of high strength structural steel by local approach

In the present study, the tension and fracture toughness tests on high strength structural steel of Q420 were carried out in different conditions of non-prestraining and prestraining. The results indicated that the prestrain increased the yield stress and tensile strength, but decreased the fracture toughness. Meanwhile, the local parameters m and σ_u controlling the brittle fracture were obtained using finite element method (FEM) analysis. Based on the Weibull stress fracture criterion, the prestraining effect on the fracture toughness was predicted from fracture toughness results of the virgin material by the local approach. The prediction was in good agreement with the experimental results. It certified that the critical Weibull stress obeys the two-parameter Weibull distribution in the local approach, and the fracture behaviour of the material with prestrain can be characterised well by the local approach.     

Evaluation of fracture toughness and impact toughness of laser rapid manufactured Inconel-625 structures and their co-relation

The present study involves evaluation of fracture toughness and Charpy impact toughness of Inconel 625 structures fabricated by laser based additive manufacturing. The results of crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) fracture toughness are close to those reported for the Inconel 625 weld metal. The nature of the load–time traces of instrumented Charpy impact tests revealed that the alloy Inconel 625 in laser fabricated condition was associated with fully ductile behavior with Charpy V-Notch impact energy in the range of 48–54 J. Stress relieving heat treatment at 950 °C for 1 h has resulted in marginal improvement in the impact toughness by about 10%, whereas no clear evidence of such improvement is seen in the CTOD fracture toughness. Fractographic examination of the Charpy specimens and the results of the instrumented impact tests imply that the mechanism of crack growth was propagation controlled under dynamic loading conditions. Dynamic fracture parameters were estimated from the instrumented impact test data and compared with the experimentally evaluated fracture toughness results.     

Statistical assessment of notch toughness against cleavage fracture of ferritic steels

The work is an initial effort on adopting a statistical approach to correlate the fracture behavior between a notched and a fracture mechanics specimen. The random nature of cleavage fracture process determines that both the microscopic fracture stress and the macroscopic properties including fracture load, fracture toughness, and the ductile to brittle transition temperature are all stochastic parameters. This understanding leads to the proposal of statistical assessment of cleavage induced notch brittleness of ferritic steels according to a recently proposed local approach model of cleavage fracture. The temperature independence of the 2 Weibull parameters in the new model induces a master curve to correlate the fracture load at different temperatures. A normalized stress combining the 2 Weibull parameters and the yield stress is proposed as the deterministic index to measure notch toughness. This proposed index is applied to compare the notch toughness of a ferritic steel with 2 different microstructures.     

Dynamic fracture toughness measurements in composites by instrumented Charpy testing: influence of aging

The dynamic behavior of three different fiber fabric composite laminates was studied by testing notched specimens in an instrumented Charpy machine. The registered impact force and displacement at the specimen hammer contact point were used to evaluate Mode-I fracture energy and dynamic fracture toughness. The changes in fracture toughness due to impact velocity, crack size and stacking sequence of the specimen were investigated with different degrees of aging conditions. Aging was found to significantly affect the dynamic fracture toughness, but had less effect on the static fracture toughness.     

Evaluation of dynamic fracture toughness parameters of locomotive axle steel by instrumented Charpy impact test

The analysis of the energy of fracture of specimens from steel OSL, which is widely used for the manufacture of railway axles under shock loading, is performed. The nature and quantitative parameters of the typical stages of the processes of plastic and brittle fracture, depending on the test temperature and stiffness of the stress state at the tip of the crack‐like defect, are established. It is shown that impact loading at 20 °C leads to the formation of the local zone of plasticity and ductile–brittle fracture of the material. An increased stiffness of the stress state at the tip of the defect at ?40 °C causes brittle fracture. An approach is developed, which is based on using the size of shear lips as a quantitative parameter of fracture under normal and low temperatures, similar in its physical essence to deformation approaches of nonlinear fracture mechanics. Based on this approach and the quantitative analysis of specimen fracture zones, the physical and mechanical scheme of specimen fracture is proposed in the presence of localized plasticity and in its absence near the tip of the concentrator.     

Progress and development in the instrumented Charpy impact test

Toughness is the most important characteristics for structural component materials and has been evaluated widely by Charpy impact test. Charpy test has been presented firstly in 1901, and instrumentation to record load history during impact has been attempted since 1920's. Various methods to estimate quantitative fracture toughness values under dynamic loading condition have been presented. In the development of fracture mechanics, one of the authors has successfully developed the new dynamic fracture toughness testing and evaluation system using the instrumented Charpy impact test, which is called “CAI system”. This paper introduces history of instrumented Charpy impact test and CAI system. Moreover, instrumented impact testing method on brittle materials is also mentioned. Worldwide standard on dynamic fracture toughness evaluation by the instrumented impact testing is highly expected to be established.     

Conversion of transgranular to intergranular fracture in NiCr steels

The paper is focused on quantification of causes and characteristics that govern the intergranular fracture initiation and propagation of this fracture micromechanism in competition with cleavage one. A NiCr steel of commercial quality and the same steel with an increased content of impurity elements, Sn and Sb, have been used for this investigation. Step cooling annealing was applied in order to induce intergranular embrittlement and brittle fracture initiation in both steels. Standard bend and the pre-cracked Charpy type specimen geometries were both tested in three-point bending to determine the fracture toughness characteristics. Charpy V notch specimens tested statically in three-point bending supported by FEM calculation have been used for local fracture stress and other local parameters determination. Relation of cleavage fracture stress and critical stress for intergranular failure has been followed showing capability of this parameter for quantification of the transgranular/intergranular fracture conversion. In order to characterise the quantitative roughness differences in fracture surfaces fractal analysis was applied. A boundary level of fractal dimension has been determined to be 1.12 for the investigated steel; the fracture surface roughness with a higher value reflects high level of intergranular embrittlement and thus fracture toughness degradation.     

Evaluation on Fracture Toughness at Dynamic Loading for Welded Joint Based on the Local Approach

The changes in mechanical properties and fracture toughness by dynamic loading were investigated with experiments. The parameter R, which can reflect the effect of the loading rate and the temperature rising during the high loading rate, could be employed to describe the constituent relation for the typical structure steel and its weld metal. The dynamic loading effect on the stress/strain fields and the temperature variation in the vicinity of the crack tip was analyzed by the finite element method, the dynamic fracture behavior was evaluated based on the local approach. It has been found that the Weibull stress is an effective fracture parameter, independent of the temperature and the loading rate.     

试样厚度对夏比冲击试验结果的影响

通过不同温度下的夏比摆锤冲击试验对非标准小尺寸V型缺口冲击试样的冲击吸收能量和侧膨胀值进行了分析,并结合力-位移曲线,研究了试样厚度对冲击试验结果的影响。结果表明:当试验温度高于韧脆转变温度时,冲击吸收能量与试样的横截面积有关,因此与厚度呈线性关系;而低于韧脆转变温度时,冲击吸收能量与试样厚度之间没有明显关系;试样的侧膨胀值、剪切断面率与厚度之间没有直接联系。随着试样厚度的减小,不稳定裂纹扩展起始力越来越小,从而导致冲击吸收能量减小。厚度越大试样吸收的能量越多,冲击过程中所受到的最大力也越大。     

Determination of the Fracture Toughness of a Low Alloy Steel by the Instrumented Charpy Impact Test

An attempt to establish a non-empirical relationship between the Charpy V-notch energy CVN and the fracture toughness K _Ic is presented. We focus our study on the lower shelf of fracture toughness and on the onset of the ductile-to-brittle transition of a A508 Cl.3 low alloy structural steel. The methodology employed is based on the `local approach'. Brittle cleavage fracture is modelled in terms of the Beremin (1983) model, whereas the ductile crack advance preceding cleavage in the transition region is accounted for with the GTN model (Gurson, 1977; Tvergaard, 1982; Tvergaard and Needleman, 1984. Mechanical testing at different strain rates and temperatures allowed the establishment of the constitutive equations of the material in a rate dependent formulation. Numerous fracture tests on different specimen geometries provided the large data set necessary for statistical evaluation. All specimen types were modelled with finite element analysis. Special consideration was taken in order to handle the dynamic effects in the Charpy impact test in an appropriate way. The fracture toughness could be predicted from Charpy impact test results, on the lower shelf, by applying the `local approach'. In the transition region the parameters of the Beremin model were found to deviate from those established on the lower shelf. Detailed fractographic investigations showed that the nature of `weak spots' inducing cleavage fracture changes with temperature. It is concluded that the Beremin model must be refined in order to be applicable in the ductile-to-brittle transition region.     

Significance of K-dominance zone size and nonsingular stress field in brittle fracture

Stress intensity factor has been used to characterize the fracture toughness of a brittle material. This practice is apparently based on the assumption that the singular stress alone at the crack tip is responsible for fracture and that the nonsingular part of the near tip stress has no effect on fracture. In this study, mode I fracture experiments were conducted on a brittle material (PMMA) with four different specimen configurations. The result indicated that fracture toughness cannot be described by stress intensity alone and that a second parameter representing the influence of the nonsingular stress is needed. A two-parameter fracture model was proposed and validated with the experimental result. This two-parameter model was shown to be able to account for various effects created by specimen configurations, crack sizes, and loading conditions, on the fracture behavior of brittle materials.     

Instrumented impact test of duplex stainless steel miniature specimen

The paper describes a new approach to characterize metallic materials by a novel instrumented notch impact test for samples with small specimen size. A piezo‐electric sensor mounted on the pendulum hammer provides force information during the fracture process. By numerical integration of the signal the absorbed impact energy can be calculated very exactly. Further information about the fracture behavior can be extracted from the resulting force‐displacement‐diagram. Several duplex stainless steels in different heat treatment conditions were tested and compared to standard Charpy impact testing specimen. It is concluded that different grades of embrittlement of duplex materials can be detected with high accuracy. Due to a data acquisition rate of 250 kilo‐samples/second and limited stiffness of the pendulum hammer impact energies of less than 7% of maximum energy materials with high brittleness can only be characterized qualitatively.     

STATISTICAL MODELLING OF INTERGRANULAR BRITTLE FRACTURE IN A LOW ALLOY STEEL

The intergranular brittle fracture (IBF) behaviour of a low alloy steel 16MND5 (A508 Cl. 3) was investigated. A temper embrittlement heat treatment was applied to the material to simulate the effect of local brittle zones (ghost lines) which can be found in the as-received material condition. An increase in the Charpy V toughness transition temperature and a significant decrease in the fracture toughness measured on CT-type specimens were observed in the embrittled material, as compared to the reference material which was submitted to the same austenitizing and tempering heat treatment, but which was not subjected to the temper embrittlement treatment. Tensile tests on notched specimens were carried out to measure the Weibull stress and scatter in the results. A statistical model, the Beremin model, originally proposed for brittle cleavage fracture was applied to IBF. It is shown that this model is not able to fully account for the results, in particular for the existence of two slopes in a Weibull plot. Systematic fractographic observations showed that the low slope regime in this representation was associated with the existence of MnS inclusions initiating brittle fracture, while the larger slope was related to microstructural defects. Initiation of IBF from MnS inclusions can occur when the material is still elastically deformed while the second population of microstructural defects is active in the plastic regime. A modified statistical model based on the Beremin model and taking into account these specific aspects is proposed in the framework of the weakest link theory. The parameters of this model are identified from test results on notched specimens. It is shown that this model is able to predict the temperature dependence of fracture toughness and the scatter in the experimental results.     

On Influence of Non-Singular Stress States on Brittle Fracture

In the case of sufficiently brittle material the use of stress intensity factor as a fracture parameter alone is well justified within the Linear-Elastic Fracture Mechanics. This is because the singular stress field associated with the stress intensity factor is dominant near the crack tip. However, there are numerous experimental evidences that the critical stress intensity factor to cause fracture initiation (or fracture toughness) can be affected by the specimen geometry as well as loading conditions. To address this issue a number of twoparameter criteria have been proposed in the past, which often utilise non-singular terms of the classical asymptotic expansion of the stress field near the crack tip. Therefore, there is a problem of the selection of an appropriate parameter in addition to the stress intensity factor, which could account for various effects induced by the specimen geometry and loading on initiation of brittle fracture. This short paper demonstrates that brittle fracture conditions can be successfully predicted with various two-parameter criteria, and there are no clear advantages in the use of T-stress as the additional parameter in fracture criterion, in comparison with the next non-singular term, A ₁, of the asymptotic expansion.     

基于局部法由示波冲击试验预测裂纹尖端张开位移

材料的COD(裂纹张开位移)、示波冲击试验是常用的断裂韧性测试,根据局部法若能从一种实验结果预测另一种实验结果具有重要意义。本研究以X65钢为试验材料,对其进行了示波冲击及COD试验,并对试验数据进行统计处理,证明断裂参量CTOD(裂纹尖端张开位移)符合三参数威布尔分布。编制了自动求解局部断裂参量及由示波冲击预测CTOD的程序。通过比较COD实验和预测结果,表明在脆性断裂条件下基于局部法能够实现由示波冲击试验预测CTOD断裂韧性。     

Partition of Charpy fracture surface with digital image processing

The fracture surface of a Charpy specimen contains information that can enrich the outcome of the test which at present is only the total energy absorbed. An automatic digital image processing technique based on the Horowitz and Pavlidis (1976) split-and-merge algorithm is proposed for partitioning Charpy fracture surface into regions with clear physical and mechanical meaning. Initial ductile fracture region, brittle zone and post-cleavage ductile shear region can be identified based on their relative brightness. Various geometrical properties of each region can then be easily calculated. The technique has been tested on a group of 773 broken Charpy samples made of TMCR and ship steels. The percentage of crystallinity calculated with the proposed technique agrees reasonably well with that obtained with visual inspection. Finally the potential of the technique and the ambiguity of the partition criterion based on surface light reflectivity are discussed.     

Comparison of fracture toughness temperature curves determined at impact and rapid loading on small and large specimens

Comparing the fracture toughness temperature curves evaluated at static and rapid loading on larger (SENB, 1CT) specimens with the fracture toughness curve determined on precracked Charpy specimens at impact loading, the following conclusions can be drawn:

Modeling ductile to brittle fracture transition in steels—micromechanical and physical challenges

Both scientists and engineers are very much concerned with the study of ductile-to-brittle transition (DBT) in ferritic steels. For historical reasons the Charpy impact test remains widely used in the industry as a quality control tool to determine the DBT temperature. The transition between the two failure modes, i.e. brittle cleavage at low temperature and ductile fracture at the upper shelf occurs also at low loading rate in fracture toughness tests. Recent developments have been made in the understanding of the micromechanisms controlling either cleavage fracture in BCC metals or ductile rupture by cavity nucleation, growth and coalescence. Other developments have also been made in numerical tools such as the finite element (FE) method incorporating sophisticated constitutive equations and damage laws to simulate ductile crack growth (DCG) and cleavage fracture. Both types of development have thus largely contributed to modeling DBT occurring either in impact tests or in fracture toughness tests. This constitutes the basis of a modern methodology to investigate fracture, which is the so-called local approach to fracture. In this study the micromechanisms of brittle cleavage fracture and ductile rupture are firstly shortly reviewed. Then the transition between both modes of failure is investigated. It is shown that the DBT behavior observed in impact tests or in fracture toughness specimens can be reasonably well predicted using modern theories on brittle and ductile fracture in conjunction with FE numerical simulations. The review includes a detailed study of a number of metallurgical parameters contributing to the variation of the DBT temperature. Two main types of steels are considered : (i) quenched and tempered bainitic and martensitic steels used in the fabrication of pressurized water reactors, and (ii) modern high-toughness line-pipe steels obtained by chemical variations and optimized hot-rolling conditions. An attempt is also made to underline the research areas which remain to be explored for improving the strength-toughness compromise in the development of steels.