Development of the Local Approach to Fracture over the Past 25 years: Theory and Applications

This review paper is devoted to the local approach to fracture (LAF) for the prediction of the fracture toughness of structural steels. The LAF has been considerably developed over the past two decades, not only to provide a better understanding of the fracture behaviour of materials, in particular the failure micromechanisms, but also to deal with loading conditions which cannot easily be handled with the conventional linear elastic fracture mechanics and elastic–plastic fracture mechanics global approaches. The bases of this relatively newly developed methodology are first presented. Both ductile rupture and brittle cleavage fracture micromechanisms are considered. The ductile-to-brittle transition observed in ferritic steels is also briefly reviewed. Two types of LAF methods are presented: (i) those assuming that the material behaviour is not affected by damage (e.g. cleavage fracture), (ii) those using a coupling effect between damage and constitutive equations (e.g. ductile fracture). The micromechanisms of brittle and ductile fracture investigated in elementary volume elements are briefly presented. The emphasis is laid on cleavage fracture in ferritic steels. The role of second phase particles (carbides or inclusions) and grain boundaries is more thoroughly discussed. The distinction between nucleation and growth controlled fracture is made. Recent developments in the theory of cleavage fracture incorporating both the effect of stress state and that of plastic strain are presented. These theoretical results are applied to the crack tip situation to predict the fracture toughness. It is shown that the ductile-to-brittle transition curve can reasonably be well predicted using the LAF approach. Additional applications of the LAF approach methods are also shown, including: (i) the effect of loading rate and prestressing; (ii) the influence of residual stresses in welds; (iii) the mismatch effects in welds; (iv) the warm-prestressing effect. An attempt is also made to delineate research areas where large improvements should be made for a better understanding of the failure behaviour of structural materials.     

Mixed mode fracture toughness of GFRP composites

Glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites are used in a wide range of applications as a structural material. They have high specific mechanical properties but are prone to delamination as a result of manufacturing defects and impact/shock loading. The ability of the structure to continue to carry load after damage and the subsequent propensity of the damage to propagate are important considerations for the design of damage tolerant composite structures. In order to accurately predict the stability of damage under load, relevant mechanical properties of the material must be accurately determined. In particular, mixed mode fracture toughness data is required in order to study the damage criticality in such structures. This paper describes an experimental study to determine Mixed Mode fracture toughness for thick glass/vinylester specimens. The test methodology used for the experiments and its difficulties will be discussed. Mixed mode fracture toughness results are presented, as are Mode I and Mode II fracture toughness results obtained via Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) and End Notch Flexure (ENF) tests, respectively.     

Mechanical properties determined by nanoindentation tests of [Pb(Zr,Ti)O3] and [Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)1−xTixO3] sputtered thin films

As the introduction of piezoelectric materials into micro electromechanical systems increases, there is a correlating requirement for understanding the mechanical properties of these films. We have investigated the mechanical properties of unpoled PZT [Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃] and PMNT [Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)_1−xTi_xO₃] thin films deposited by sputtering. In this study, nano-indentation, a technique which allows determination of the transverse mechanical properties, is used. It is the easiest method for assessing the biaxial elastic modulus and the hardness of thin films. It was confirmed that neither cracks, nor pile-ups, were observed for indentation depths below 20% of the film's thickness.The continuous stiffness method was used and allowed us to demonstrate that the indentation modulus decreases continuously with increasing grain diameter. This can be explained by the orientation changes of the crystallites with increasing grain diameter. The indentation modulus measured under load, or at almost null load (that is when the ferroelectric domains are or are not oriented by the stress) are coherent with those determined by the same method with a hard bulk ceramic. These results tend to show that the compliance C_ij of the hard bulk ceramic can possibly be used with sputtered thin films. The hardness is almost independent of the grain diameter (H_b ≅ 7.5 ± 0.9 GPa) and higher than that for the bulk PZT ceramics considered in this study. PMNT and PZT films have appreciably the same mechanical characteristics. No influence of the film thickness was found on the values of both of these parameters.     

350℃下长期时效对17-4PH不锈钢动态断裂韧性的影响

利用示波冲击试验系统研究反应堆用17-4PH马氏体不锈钢在使用温度（350℃）下长期(约11000h)时效过程冲击性能和动态断裂韧度的变化规律，并用扫描电镜观察分析不同时效时间的CharpyⅤ型缺口试样（CVN）的断口形貌。结果表明：该马氏体不锈钢在350℃长期时效的过程中，随着时效时间的延长,其塑性变形能E_PL和撕裂能E_TE以及冲击功E_t均随时效时间的延长而逐渐下降。根据示波冲击曲线获得了该钢的动态断裂韧度K_Id，其动态断裂韧度也随时效时间的延长而逐渐下降，并在试验的初始阶段下降很快，在试验的中后期下降较为缓慢。另外，该不锈钢的CVN冲击试样断口形貌随着时效时间的延长由韧性断裂机制的韧窝断裂为主向脆性断裂机制的准解理断裂和穿晶断裂为主变化。这些均说明，随着时效时间的延长，该材料的韧性降低，发生了脆化，且脆化主要发生在试验的初始阶段。     

烧结NdFeB磁体强度和韧性研究现状

烧结NdFeB永磁材料具有磁性能高、价格低、生产工艺简单等突出优点，因而自其开发以来，生产和应用取得了快速发展，并且其市场还将不断扩大。但是，这种材料强度和韧性差，机械加工困难，应用过程中容易开裂。因此，改善烧结NdFeB永磁材料的力学性能已成为一个迫切的需要。综述了该种材料的断裂机制及在改善材料强度和韧性等方面所做的研究工作，认为通过添加合金元素，韧化晶界，细化主相晶粒，是一种有效的方法。研究表明，材料的断裂方式主要为沿晶断裂，晶界上的薄片富Nd相是引起沿晶断裂的主要原因，通过微量添加合金元素能有效改善磁体力学特性。     

非调质N80石油套管轧制工艺优化的实验研究

针对用34Mn2VN钢生产非调质N80级石油套管冲击韧性偏低的问题,在动态相变规律研究的基础上进行了不同轧制工艺参数的热模拟实验,分析了工艺参数对34Mn2VN钢组织演变规律及冲击韧性的影响.通过优化工艺参数,将终轧温度控制为850℃,轧后冷速为0.8～1.5℃/s,在包钢φ180机组上稳定生产出高质量的非凋质N80级石油套管.结果表明,不经在线正火,能稳定生产符合API SPEC 5CT第七版标准的非调质N80级石油套管,显著提高产品的冲击韧性,并实现节能降耗.     

4Cr5MoSiV1热作模具钢锻造加热工艺的改进

攀长钢生产的4Cr5MoSiV1热作模具钢锻材存在超声波探伤合格率较低的问题。分析认为主要原因是沿用较低的锻前加热温度，钢锭加热程度不足造成锻造时大锻材中心没有充分锻透。笔者对4Cr5MoSiV1钢锻造加热工艺进行了递进式改进，逐步调整钢锭加热制度从1180℃最终提高到1270℃．1290℃，同时相应调整退火工艺制度，基本解决了上述问题，探伤废品大幅降低，锻造火次也明显减少，并避免高温加热引起的粗晶降低钢材使用性能，取得了显著的工艺改进效果。另外，采用高温加热也使钢中的显微偏析明显减轻，获得了部分的均匀化扩散退火的效果：一次碳化物减少，尺寸变小，没有尖锐的棱角，冲击韧性比工艺改进前有明显提高。     

Sintering products molded by injecting ceramic and metal powders

The injection molding products with different volume ratios of ZrO2 ceramic powder to 316L stainless steel powder were prepared. Properties and structure of the products were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscope(SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results show that the compressive stress exists in the products and the bend strength reaches 300 MPa. ZrO2 phase and stainless steel phase are uniform in samples. The toughness of ceramic increases with the increasing the content of stainless steel. Through TEM study of the interface, some crystalline orientation relationships are determined.     

17-4PH马氏体不锈钢350℃长期时效脆化研究

采用光学显微镜(OM)、扫描电镜(SEM)、硬度测定以及示波冲击试验(instrumental impact test)研究了17-4PH马氏体不锈钢在350％：长期时效过程中显微组织、硬度、冲击韧性以及断口形貌的变化规律。结果表明：该马氏体不锈钢在350℃长期时效的过程中，随着时效时间的延长．其硬度升高，并在时效9000h时达到最大值；其裂纹萌生功(Ei)，裂纹扩展功(Ep)和总冲击功(Et)都随时效时间的延长而逐渐下降。根据示波冲击曲线获得了17-4PH马氏体不锈钢的动态断裂韧性Ktd，其动态断裂韧性也表现出和Ei，Ep及Et相类似的变化规律。该不锈钢的夏氏V型缺口(Charpy V-notch)冲击试样断口形貌随着时效时间的延长由韧窝断裂为主向准解理断裂和沿晶断裂为主变化。     

抗磨铸铁强化变质剂的研究

介绍了关于含有B、Ti、Sr等合金及复合盐对抗磨白口铸铁变质效果的研究情况。并通过实验结果表明，采用复合盐类变质处理可以改善高铬铸铁的碳化物形貌，同时大大提高了冲击韧性。