Multiscale material modeling and its application to a dynamic crack propagation problem

Here we present a multiscale field theory for modeling and simulation of multi-grain material system which consists of several different kinds of single crystals and a large number of different kinds of discrete atoms. The theoretical construction of the multiscale field theory is briefly introduced. The interatomic forces are used to formulate the governing equations for the system. A compact tension specimen made of magnesium oxide is modeled by discrete atoms in front of the crack tip and finite elements in the far field. Results showing crack propagation through the atomic region are presented.     

Experimental analysis of crack tip fields in rubber materials under large deformation

A three-nested-deformation model is proposed to describe crack-tip fields in rubber-like materials with large deformation.The model is inspired by the distribution of the measured in-plane and out-of-plane deformation.The inplane displacement of crack-tip fields under both Mode I and mixed-mode(Mode I-II) fracture conditions is measured by using the digital Moire’ method.The deformation characteristics and experimental sector division mode are investigated by comparing the measured displacement fields under different fracture modes.The out-of-plane displacement field near the crack tip is measured using the three-dimensional digital speckle correlation method.     

Effect of T-stress on branch angle of moving cracks

The effects of the T-stress on Yoffe crack propagation are analyzed. Using a maximum k_I fracture criterion near the kink of a moving crack tip, a branch angle is determined via asymptotic crack-tip field containing two fracture parameters related to singular and constant terms. Results indicate that crack speeds decrease the T-stress. The crack-tip field and the branch angle depend on the T-stress, especially for higher crack velocities. The critical speed for crack bifurcation is independent of remote transverse loading if neglecting the T-stress. Otherwise, the crack branch speed is reduced or raised, depending on positive or negative transverse loading, respectively.     

Magnetoelastic fracture of soft ferromagnetic materials

Effects of magnetic field on fracture toughness of soft ferromagnetic materials were studied using experimental techniques and theoretical models. The manganese–zinc ferrite with a single-edge-notch-beam (SENB) were chosen to be the specimen and the Vickers’ indentation specimen subjected to a magnetic field were chosen to be the specimens. Results indicate that there is no significant variations of the measured fracture toughness of the manganese–zinc ferrite ceramic in the presence of the magnetic field. The theoretical model involves an anti-plane shear crack with finite length in an infinite magnetostrictive body where an in-plane magnetic field prevails at infinity. Magnetoelasticity is used. The crack-tip elastic field is different from that of the classical mode III fracture problem. Furthermore, the magnetoelastic fracture of the soft ferromagnetic material was studied by solving the stress field for a soft ferromagnetic plane with a center-through elliptical crack. The stress field at the tip of a slender elliptical crack is obtained for which only external magnetic field normal to the major axis of the ellipse is applied at infinity. The results indicate that the near field stresses are governed by the magnetostriction and permeability of the soft ferromagnetic material. The induction magnetostrictive modulus is a key parameter for finding whether magnetostriction or magnetic-force-induced deformation is dominant near the front an elliptically-shaped crack. The influence of the magnetic field on the apparent toughness of a soft ferromagnetic material with a crack-like flaw can be regarded approximately in two ways: one possesses a large induction magnetostrictive modulus and the other has a small modulus. Finally, a small-scale magnetic-yielding model was developed on the basis of linear magnetization to interpret the experimental results related to the fracture of the manganese–zinc ferrite ceramics under magnetic field. Studied also is the fracture test of the soft ferromagnetic steel with compact tension specimens published in the existing literature.     

Effect of constraint induced by crack depth on creep crack-tip stress field in CT specimens

In this paper, the effect of constraint induced by the crack depth on creep crack-tip stress field in compact tension (CT) specimens is examined by finite element analysis, and the effect of creep deformation and damage on the Hutchinson–Rice–Rosengren (HRR) singularity stress field are discussed. The results show the constraint induced by crack depth causes the difference in crack-tip opening stress distributions between the specimens with different crack depth at the same C*. The maximum opening stress appears at a distance from crack tips, and the stress singularity near the crack tips does not exist due to the crack-tip blunting caused by the large creep deformation in the vicinity of the crack tips. The actual stress calculated by the finite element method (FEM) in front of crack tip is significantly lower than that predicted by the HRR field. Based on the reference stress field in the deep crack CT specimen with high constraint, a new constraint parameter R is defined and the constraint effect in the shallow crack specimen is examined at different distances ahead of the crack tip from transient to steady-state creep conditions. During the early stages of creep constraint increases with time, and then approaches a steady state value as time increases. With increasing the distance from crack tips and applied load, the negative R increases and the constraint decreases.     

Multiscale modeling of crack initiation and propagation at the nanoscale

Fracture occurs on multiple interacting length scales; atoms separate on the atomic scale while plasticity develops on the microscale. A dynamic multiscale approach (CADD: coupled atomistics and discrete dislocations) is employed to investigate an edge-cracked specimen of single-crystal nickel, Ni, (brittle failure) and aluminum, Al, (ductile failure) subjected to mode-I loading. The dynamic model couples continuum finite elements to a fully atomistic region, with key advantages such as the ability to accommodate discrete dislocations in the continuum region and an algorithm for automatically detecting dislocations as they move from the atomistic region to the continuum region and then correctly “converting” the atomistic dislocations into discrete dislocations, or vice-versa. An ad hoc computational technique is also applied to dissipate localized waves formed during crack advance in the atomistic zone, whereby an embedded damping zone at the atomistic/continuum interface effectively eliminates the spurious reflection of high-frequency phonons, while allowing low-frequency phonons to pass into the continuum region.The simulations accurately capture the essential physics of the crack propagation in a Ni specimen at different temperatures, including the formation of nano-voids and the sudden acceleration of the crack tip to a velocity close to the material Rayleigh wave speed. The nanoscale brittle fracture happens through the crack growth in the form of nano-void nucleation, growth and coalescence ahead of the crack tip, and as such resembles fracture at the microscale. When the crack tip behaves in a ductile manner, the crack does not advance rapidly after the pre-opening process but is blunted by dislocation generation from its tip. The effect of temperature on crack speed is found to be perceptible in both ductile and brittle specimens.     

T应力对光弹性条纹影响的理论分析

以裂尖弹性应力场的多参数模型为基础,研究I型、II型以及I/II混合型裂纹参数对光弹性条纹的影响. T应力的存在和符号影响着等色线条纹环的半径大小和旋转方向,对于纯I型或II型裂纹而言,条纹环的旋转角度只与T应力有关;而对于I/II混合型裂纹,条纹环旋转角度与K_{\rm I}, K_{\rm II}和T应力有关. T应力的存在使得I型裂纹在裂尖±π/3方向上出现2个各向同性点(T应力为正时),使得II型裂纹在裂尖后的裂纹面上出现1个各向同性点. 对于I/II混合型裂纹而言,当T应力为正时等倾线出现距裂尖半径不等的3个各向同性点;反之, T应力为负时在裂尖后只存在1个各向同性点,这些各向同性点分别与I型和II型裂纹情况具有相同的规律.      

Dynamics of crack penetration vs. branching at a weak interface: An experimental study

In this paper, the dynamic crack-interface interactions and the related mechanics of crack penetration vs. branching at a weak interface are studied experimentally. The interface is oriented perpendicular to the incoming mode-I crack in an otherwise homogeneous bilayer. The focus of this investigation is on the effect of interface location and the associated crack-tip parameters within the bilayer on the mechanics of the ensuing fracture behavior based on the optical methodologies laid down in Ref. Sundaram and Tippur (2016). Time-resolved optical measurement of crack-tip deformations, velocity and stress intensity factor histories in different bilayer configurations is performed using Digital Gradient Sensing (DGS) technique in conjunction with high-speed photography. The results show that the crack path selection at the interface and subsequently the second layer are greatly affected by the location of the interface within the geometry. Using optically measured fracture parameters, the mechanics of crack penetration and branching are explained. Counter to the intuition, a dynamically growing mode-I approaching a weak interface at a lower velocity and stress intensity factor penetrates the interface whereas a higher velocity and stress intensity factor counterpart gets trapped by the interface producing branched daughter cracks until they kink out into the next layer. An interesting empirical observation based on measured crack-tip parameters for crack penetration and branching is also made.     

New stress intensity factor solutions of a periodic array of cracks in residual stress field

Many important applications of crack mechanics involve self-equilibrating residual or thermal stress fields. For these types of problems, the traditional fracture mechanics approach based on the superposition principle has ignored the effect of crack surface contact when the crack-tip propagates into the residual compressive region. Contact between the crack faces and the wedging action are responsible for subsequent crack-tip reopening, which often leads to a much larger mode I stress intensity factor. In this study, an analytical approach is used to study the effect of crack face contact for a period array of collinear cracks embedded in several typical residual stress fields. It is found that the nonlinear contact between crack surfaces dominates the cracking behavior in residual/thermal stress fields, which is responsible for crack coalescence.     

Finite deformation analysis of crack-tip opening in elastic-plastic materials and implications for fracture

Analyses of the stress and strain fields around smoothly-blunting crack tips in both non-hardening and hardening elastic-plastic materials, under contained plane-strain yielding and subject to mode I opening loads, have been carried out by use of a finite element method suitably formulated to admit large geometry changes. The results include the crack-tip shape and near-tip deformation field, and the crack-tip opening displacement has been related to a parameter of the applied load, the J-integral. The hydrostatic stresses near the crack tip are limited due to the lack of constraint on the blunted tip, limiting achievable stress levels except in a very small region around the crack tip in power-law hardening materials. The J-integral is found to be path-independent except very close to the crack tip in the region affected by the blunted tip. Models for fracture are discussed in the light of these results including one based on the growth of voids. The rate of void-growth near the tip in hardening materials seems to be little different from the rate in non-hardening ones when measured in terms of crack-tip opening displacement, which leads to a prediction of higher toughness in hardening materials. It is suggested that improvement of this model would follow from better understanding of void-void and void-crack coalescence and void nucleation, and some criteria and models for these effects are discussed. The implications of the finite element results for fracture criteria based on critical stress or strain, or both, is discussed with respect to transition of fracture mode and the angle of initial crack-growth. Localization of flow is discussed as a possible fracture model and as a model for void-crack coalescence.     

Ⅱ型动态扩展裂纹尖端的弹黏塑性渐近场

考虑材料的黏性效应建立了Ⅱ型动态扩展裂纹尖端的力学模型,假设黏性系数与塑性等效应变率的幂次成反比,通过分析使尖端场的弹、黏、塑性得到合理匹配,并给出边界条件作为扩展裂纹定解的补充条件,对理想塑性材料中平面应变扩展裂纹尖端场进行了弹黏塑性渐近分析,得到了不含间断的连续解,并讨论了Ⅱ型裂纹数值解的性质随各参数的变化规律.分析表明应力和应变均具有幂奇异性,对于Ⅱ型裂纹,裂尖场不含弹性卸载区.引入Airy应力函数,求得了Ⅱ型准静态裂纹尖端场的控制方程,并进行了数值分析,给出了裂纹尖端的应力应变场.当裂纹扩展速度(M→0)趋于零时,动态解趋于准静态解,表明准静态解是动态解的特殊形式.     

On fatigue crack growth in ductile materials by crack-tip blunting

One of the basic mechanisms for fatigue crack growth in ductile metals is that depending on crack-tip blunting under tensile loads and re-sharpening of the crack-tip during unloading. In a standard numerical analysis accounting for finite strains it is not possible to follow this process during many cycles, as severe mesh distortion at the crack-tip results from the huge geometry changes developing during the cyclic plastic straining. In the present numerical studies, based on an elastic-perfectly plastic material model, crack growth computations are continued up to 200 full cycles by using remeshing at several stages of the plastic deformation. Three different values of the load ratio R=K_min/K_max are considered. It is shown that the crack-tip opening displacement, CTOD, typically undergoes a transient behaviour, with no crack closure during many cycles, before a steady-state cycling with crack closure at the tip starts to gradually develop.     

A viscoplastic study of crack-tip deformation and crack growth in a nickel-based superalloy at elevated temperature

Viscoplastic crack-tip deformation behaviour in a nickel-based superalloy at elevated temperature has been studied for both stationary and growing cracks in a compact tension (CT) specimen using the finite element method. The material behaviour was described by a unified viscoplastic constitutive model with non-linear kinematic and isotropic hardening rules, and implemented in the finite element software ABAQUS via a user-defined material subroutine (UMAT). Finite element analyses for stationary cracks showed distinctive strain ratchetting behaviour near the crack tip at selected load ratios, leading to progressive accumulation of tensile strain normal to the crack-growth plane. Results also showed that low frequencies and superimposed hold periods at peak loads significantly enhanced strain accumulation at crack tip. Finite element simulation of crack growth was carried out under a constant ΔK-controlled loading condition, again ratchetting was observed ahead of the crack tip, similar to that for stationary cracks.A crack-growth criterion based on strain accumulation is proposed where a crack is assumed to grow when the accumulated strain ahead of the crack tip reaches a critical value over a characteristic distance. The criterion has been utilized in the prediction of crack-growth rates in a CT specimen at selected loading ranges, frequencies and dwell periods, and the predictions were compared with the experimental results.     

Quasi-static and dynamic crack growth along bimaterial interfaces: A note on crack-tip field measurements using coherent gradient sensing

The paper presents a preliminary experimental investigation of crack-tip deformation fields near quasistatically and dynamically growing cracks in bimaterial interfaces. A three-point-bend bimaterial specimen with a relatively large stiffness mismatch between the two materials is studied. A recently developed optical method of coherent gradient sensing (CGS) is used to map crack-tip deformation fields.The quasi-static measurements are interpreted using plane-stress, singular-field solution for the interface crack tip. Results are compared with two-dimensional finite-element computations performed on identical specimen geometries and material mismatch.³² Impact studies conducted with bimaterial specimens provide the first experimental results of deformation fields near dynamically growing cracks along interfaces. Very high crack velocities, up to 80 percent of the Rayleigh wave speed for the less stiffer material of the two, are observed.     

Development of a Micro-beam Method to Investigate the Fatigue Crack Growth Mechanisms of Submicron-scale Cracks

In this paper, we propose a new experimental method to investigate the fatigue crack growth mechanisms of submicron-scale cracks by using freestanding single edge notched micro-beams that are fabricated on the surfaces of conventional bending specimens with the focused ion beam technique. Three dimensional FEM simulations in conjugate with LEFM fracture analysis were carried out to correlate the applied far field stresses with the local crack-tip driving force. For the validation of the new method, micro-beam experiments were conducted on 4340 low alloy steels and the results showed the similar findings compared to those in the literature while revealed undiscovered fatigue damage mechanisms that took place at the submicron and nanometer scales.     

Application of material forces to fracture of inhomogeneous materials: illustrative examples

The material forces concept has become an elegant tool in continuum mechanics for the calculation of the thermodynamic driving force of a defect. Based on this concept, we have recently shown that inhomogeneities essentially shield or anti-shield crack tips from applied far-field stresses. The goal of this paper is to illustrate this by considering the model example of a crack in a CT-type specimen that contains a bimaterial interface. The crack driving force is calculated as the sum of the far-field driving force and the crack-tip shielding or anti-shielding. Several cases of inhomogeneity in either thermal or elastic properties are considered. Rather simple hand calculations are provided in addition to numerical results to illustrate the advantages of using the material forces concept.     

Stress intensity factors for asymmetric branched cracks in plane extension by using crack-tip displacement discontinuity elements

Stress intensity factors are important in the analysis of cracked materials. They are directly related to the fracture propagation and fatigue crack growth criteria. Based on the analytical solution (Crouch, S.L., 1976. Solution of plane elasticity problems by displacement discontinuity method, Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 10, pp. 301–343; Crouch, S.L., Starfield, A.M., 1983. Boundary Element Method in Solid Mechanics, with Application in Rock Mechanics and Geological Mechanics, London, Geore Allon and Unwin, Bonton, Sydney) to the problem of a constant discontinuity in displacement over a finite line segment in the x, y plane of an infinite elastic solid, recently, the crack-tip displacement discontinuity element which can be classified as the left and right crack-tip displacement discontinuity elements are developed by the author Yan, X., (in press. A special crack-tip displacement discontinuity element, Mechanics Research Communications) to model the crack-tip fields to more accurately compute the stress intensity factors of cracks in general plane elasticity. In the boundary element implementation the left or the right crack-tip displacement discontinuity element is placed locally at the corresponding left or right crack tip on top of the ordinary non-singular displacement discontinuity elements that cover the entire crack surface and the other boundaries. To prove further the efficiency of the suggested approach and provide more results of the stress intensity factors, in this study, analysis of an asymmetric branched crack bifurcated from a main crack in plane extension is carried out.     

The anti-plane shear field in an infinite slab of elasto-damaged material with a semi-infinite crack

This paper deals with an infinite slab with a semi-infinite crack, which is subjected to the anti-plane sheark _III field at infinity. The slab is made of an elasto-damaged material. Analytical solution is obtained by use of conformal mapping. The shape of damaged-zone, the dissipative energy, the shear opening displacement on the crack surface and several stress distribution curves are given. The far field condition is checked, The asymptotic behavior near the crack-tip is given. The project supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China     

Mode III effects on interface delamination

For crack growth along an interface between dissimilar materials the effect of combined modes I, II and III at the crack-tip is investigated. First, in order to highlight situations where crack growth is affected by a mode III contribution, examples of material configurations are discussed where mode III has an effect. Subsequently, the focus is on crack growth along an interface between an elastic-plastic solid and an elastic substrate. The analyses are carried out for conditions of small-scale yielding, with the fracture process at the interface represented by a cohesive zone model. Due to the mismatch of elastic properties across the interface the corresponding elastic solution has an oscillating stress singularity, and this solution is applied as boundary conditions on the outer edge of the region analyzed. For several combinations of modes I, II and III crack growth resistance curves are calculated numerically in order to determine the steady-state fracture toughness. For given values of K_I and K_II the minimum fracture toughness corresponds to K_III=0 in most of the range analyzed, but there is a range where the minimum occurs for a nonzero value of K_III.