Dynamic fracture instabilities in brittle crystals generated by thermal phonon emission: Experiments and atomistic calculations

Dynamic cleavage fracture experiments of brittle single crystal silicon revealed several length scales of surface and path instabilities: macroscale path selection, mesoscale crack deflection, and nanoscale surface ridges. These phenomena cannot be predicted or explained by any of the continuum mechanics based equations of motion of dynamic cracks, as presumably critical energy dissipation mechanisms are not fully accounted for in the theories. Experimentally measured maximum crack speed, always lower than the theoretical limit, is another phenomenon that is as yet not well understood.We suggest that these phenomena depend on velocity dependent and anisotropic material property that resists crack propagation. The basic approach is that the bond breaking mechanisms during dynamic crack propagation vibrate the atoms at the crack front to generate thermal phonon emission, or heat, which provides additional energy dissipation mechanisms. This energy dissipation mechanism is a material property that resists crack propagation. To evaluate this property, we combined the continuum based elastodynamic Freund equation of motion with molecular dynamics atomistic computer “experiments”.We analyzed the above experimental dynamic fracture instabilities in silicon with the obtained velocity dependent and anisotropic material property and show its importance in cleavage of brittle crystals.     

Energy dissipation mechanisms in ductile fracture

The objective is to investigate energy dissipation mechanisms that operate at different length scales during fracture in ductile materials. A dimensional analysis is performed to identify the sets of dimensionless parameters which contribute to energy dissipation via dislocation-mediated plastic deformation at a crack tip. However, rather than using phenomenological variables such as yield stress and hardening modulus in the analysis, physical variables such as dislocation density, Burgers vector and Peierls stress are used. It is then shown via elementary arguments that the resulting dimensionless parameters can be interpreted in terms of competitions between various energy dissipation mechanisms at different length scales from the crack tip; the energy dissipations mechanisms are cleavage, crack tip dislocation nucleation and also dislocation nucleation from a Frank-Read source. Therefore, the material behavior is classified into three groups. The first two groups are the well-known intrinsic brittle and intrinsic ductile behavior. The third group is designated to be extrinsic ductile behavior for which Frank-Read dislocation nucleation is the initial energy dissipation mechanism. It is shown that a material is predicted to exhibit extrinsic ductility if the dimensionless parameter bρ_disl^1/2 (b is Burgers vector, ρ_disl is dislocation density) is within a certain range defined by other dimensionless parameters, irrespective of the competition between cleavage and crack tip dislocation nucleation. The predictions compare favorably to the documented behavior of a number of different classes of materials.     

Laser speckle decorrelation as a noncontact method for brittle-ductile fracture differentiation

Quasi-static fracture in four-point-bend specimens of both brittle and ductile materials was examined using a method which required only photographic access to the specimen surface. Decorrelation of laser speckle patterns was used as a means to map out two-dimensional regions of high surface strain associated with crack propagation. ASTM A515 grade 70 steel was tested, at temperatures above and below its brittle-ductile transition temperature, by double-exposure speckle photography of the area ahead of the crack tip. The regions where the two speckle patterns were uncorrelated, determined by pointwise spatial filtering of the speckle interferograms, have been observed and are related to plastic deformation of the specimen surface near the crack tip. A subsequent comparison of the decorrelation zones resulting from brittle versus ductile states showed differences as expected in both zone size and shape.     

Random-fuzzy model for the ductile/brittle transition

IntroductionTheductile brittletransition (DBT )ofsteelalloysisinfluencedbythematerialmicrostructureandtestingtemperature[1].Availablereferencesrangingfromanalyticalapproachtoempiricaltestsaretoonumeroustolist.Mostofthesemodesaredeterministic ,whichdidnottaketherandomnessoftheparametersandman_madeerrorintoconsideration .Thebasicproposesofthispaperistounderstandthetransitionbyanewrandom_fuzzymodel.Theductile brittletransitioninvolvestheductilefracture ,brittlefractureandthetransition .Inacerta…     

Quasicontinuum simulation of single crystal nano-plate with a mixed-mode crack

The quasicontinuum (QC) method is employed to simulate a nickel single crystal nano-plate with a mixed-mode crack. Atomic stresses near the crack tip are fitted according to the elastoplastic fracture mechanics equations. It is found that the atomic stress fields neighboring the crack tip are also singular and controlled by the atomic stress intensity factors. And then the critical energy release rates for brittle and ductile fracture are computed and compared in order to predict crack propagation or dislocation emission. Four possible slip directions at the crack tip are pointed out. Finally, the slip direction around the crack tip is determined by the shear stress and it is well consistent with the atomic pictures from the QC simulation.     

Crack tip blunting and cleavage under dynamic conditions

In structural materials with both brittle and ductile phases, cracks often initiate within the brittle phase and propagate dynamically towards the ductile phase. The macroscale, quasistatic toughness of the material thus depends on the outcome of this microscale, dynamic process. Indeed, dynamics has been hypothesized to suppress dislocation emission, which may explain the occurrence of brittle transgranular fracture in mild steels at low temperatures (Lin et al., 1987). Here, crack tip blunting and cleavage under dynamic conditions are explored using continuum mechanics and molecular dynamics simulations. The focus is on two questions: (1) whether dynamics can affect the energy barriers for dislocation emission and cleavage, and (2) what happens in the dynamic “overloaded” situation, in which both processes are energetically possible. In either case, dynamics may shift the balance between brittle cleavage and ductile blunting, thereby affecting the intrinsic ductility of the material. To explore these effects in simulation, a novel interatomic potential is used for which the intrinsic ductility is tunable, and a novel simulation technique is employed, termed as a “dynamic cleavage test”, in which cracks can be run dynamically at a prescribed energy release rate into a material. Both theory and simulation reveal, however, that the intrinsic ductility of a material is unaffected by dynamics. The energy barrier to dislocation emission appears to be identical in quasi-static and dynamic conditions, and, in the overloaded situation, ductile crack tip behavior ultimately prevails since a single emission event can blunt and arrest the crack, preventing further cleavage. Thus, dynamics cannot embrittle a ductile material, and the origin of brittle failure in certain alloys (e.g., mild steels) appears unrelated to dynamic effects at the crack tip.     

GPU-based simulations of fracture in idealized brick and mortar composites

Stiff ceramic platelets (or bricks) that are aligned and bonded to a second ductile phase with low volume fraction (mortar) are a promising pathway to produce stiff, high-toughness composites. For certain ranges of constituent properties, including those of some synthetic analogs to nacre, one can demonstrate that the deformation is dominated by relative brick motions. This paper describes simulations of fracture that explicitly track the motions of individual rigid bricks in an idealized microstructure; cohesive tractions acting between the bricks introduce elastic, plastic and rupture behaviors. Results are presented for the stresses and damage near macroscopic cracks with different brick orientations relative to the loading orientation. The anisotropic macroscopic initiation toughness is computed for small-scale yielding conditions and is shown to be independent of specimen geometry and loading configuration. The results are shown to be in agreement with previously published experiments on synthetic nacre.     

Estimation of Fracture Toughness of Metallic Materials Using Instrumented Indentation: Critical Indentation Stress and Strain Model

We propose a generalized approach based on fracture mechanics and contact mechanics to estimate the fracture toughness in metallic materials from instrumented indentation testing. Models were developed for brittle and ductile fracture. Different criteria were applied to each model to determine the critical fracture point during indentation. For brittle fracture, the critical fracture point was defined in terms of the critical mean pressure; for ductile fracture, the critical fracture point was derived from fracture strain and critical plastic zone size. Each fracture criterion was used to determine the indentation fracture energy corresponding to the fracture energy required for crack extension. The fracture toughness was estimated for various metallic materials using each model and compared with standard fracture toughness tests.     

Effect of microstructure on fracture of brittle materials: Unified approach

A theoretical approach to the fracture of brittle solids based on crack opening displacement and energy rate criterion is presented. The approach allows for the prediction of elastic (Young’s modulus) and fracture (fracture strength and thermal shock) response of a brittle material containing spherical pores and polycrystalline solids containing anisotropic residual stresses.     

Ductile and brittle fracture analysis of surface flaws using CTOD

A reference stress method is used to analyze both brittle and ductile fracture in structures containing surface flaws. Crack-tip opening displacement (CTOD) is used as the fracture-toughness input, althoughJ-based reference stress analyses are also possible. Both detailed and simplified analyses for brittle and ductile fracture are described. A brittle fracture analysis which takes account of stress concentrations, secondary stresses and stress gradients is presented, together with a complete ductile tearing analysis which utilizes a single CTOD value measured at maximum load. In addition, two simplified approaches are proposed: a yield-before-break criterion for brittle fracture and a critical learing modulus for ductile fracture.     

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.     

Stress distribution near grain boundary in anisotropic bicrystals and tricrystals

The rate dependent crystallographic finite element program was implemented in ABAQUS as a UMAT for the analysis of the stress distributions near grain boundary in anisotropic bicrystals and tricrystals, taking the different crystallographic orientations into consideration. The numerical results of bicrystals model with the different crystallographic orientations shows that there is a high stress gradient near the grain boundaries. The characteristics of stress structures are dependent on the crystallographic orientations of the two grains. The existing of triple junctions in the tricrystals may result in the stress concentrations, or may not, depending on the crystallographic orientations of the three grains. The conclusion shows that grain boundary with different crystallographic orientations can have different deformation, damage, and faUure behaviors. So it is only on the detail study of the stress distribution can the metal fracture be understood deeply.     

Modeling and simulation of large-scale ductile fracture in plates and shells

The work is concerned with the modeling and simulation of large scale ductile fracture in plate and shell structures. A meshfree method – the reproducing kernel particle method (RKPM) – is used in numerical computations in order to enact dynamic crack propagation without remeshing. There are several novelties in the present approach. First, we have developed a crack surface approximation and particle split algorithm for three-dimensional through-thickness cracks. Second, to represent evolving crack surface in 3D shell structures, a 3D parametric visibility condition algorithm is proposed, which re-constructs the local connectivity map for particles near the crack tip or crack surfaces, so that the meshfree interpolation field can represent physical material separation in the computational domain. Third, the constitutive update formulas in explicit time integration by different versions of Gurson models and the rate-dependent Johnson–Cook model are implemented for 3D computations. Finally, the performance of different Gurson-type models are investigated and compared with the experimental data of large scale in-plate tear process. Numerical simulations of crack propagation in stiffened plates and shells demonstrate that the proposed method provides an effective means to simulate ductile fracture in large scale plate/shell structures with engineering accuracy.     

Global and local approaches to fracture normal to interfaces

The problem of a crack perpendicularly approaching a bimaterial interface is examined using both global and localapproaches to fracture. The global approach is based on the J-integral with a second parameter, Q, which scales the stress triaxiality ahead of the crack. The local approach is based on either brittle fracture(Beremin model ) or ductile fracture (Rice and Tracey model ). In the first case, the Weibull stress over the plasticzone is calculated. In the second case, the void growth rate is calculated at the tip of the crack over a representativevolume (generally associated with a characteristic length of the material ). After a brief summary of each approach,the results for a crack near an elastically homogeneous, plastically mismatched interface are presented. Thebehaviour of the bimaterial is expressed in relation to the behavior of the homogeneous material. It is shown thatthere is an effect on the crack behavior which depends on the direction of crack propagation, i.e. from the hardermaterial to the softer material or vice versa. This effect is examined as a function of change in yield strength ratioand hardening exponent, n. For the case of brittle fracture, the effect of changing the Weibull modulus, m, is also examined. The models based on the local approach show that both stress- and strain-controlledfracture mechanisms must be accounted for. This implies the necessity of using the two parameters J and Q in the global approach. This is due to the fact that the stress–strain fields ahead of the crack tip areaffected by the nature of the second material.     

Stress and energy density fields near a blunted crack front in power hardening material

Using Jaumann and Dienes rates of Euler stress in elastic-plastic constitutive equations of finite deformation, plane strain finite element analysis for a compact tension specimen with a blunted crack front is made. The Euler stress, Kirchhoff stress and volume strain energy density near a blunted crack tip are computed. Constitutive relations with different deformation rates affect the the near crack tip solution in a region within an order of magnitude of the crack opening displacement. The results differed from the corresponding solution of deformation plasticity (or nonlinear elasticity) with increasing deformation. They are smaller in a local region of about 2 to 10 times of the crack opening distance.The volume energy density near the crack tip is computed, the stationary values of which determine the locations of extensive yielding and possible sites of crack initiation. It remained nearly constant with increasing deformation. Such a character tends to support the volume energy density criterion as a means for quantifying the ductile fracture behavior of metals.     

金属材料脆性断裂机理的实验研究

材料的脆性断裂有许多准则和模型,但对脆断机理和变化规律缺乏合理的描述,给工程应用带来不便。本文对典型脆性材料球墨铸铁、灰铸铁分别进行了拉扭双轴断裂实验和常规拉伸、扭转破坏实验;对韧性金属材料合金钢进行了单轴拉伸颈缩破坏实验。通过上述实验分析了脆性材料和韧性材料发生脆性断裂的机理特征并选择应力三维度作为应力状态参数描述危险点的应力状态,同时考察了脆性材料和韧性材料发生脆性断裂的主导因素。结果表明:韧性材料45#钢和14CrNiMoV合金钢在颈缩断面心部应力三维度值较大时发生脆性拉断,而在颈缩断面边缘处应力三维度值较小时发生剪断;脆性材料球墨铸铁在应力三维度值为0.0～0.33之间变化时均发生脆性断裂;灰铸铁在应力三维度值大于0.0时发生脆性拉断,而在应力三维度值小于0.0时发生剪断。因此可以认为,材料的细观组织结构和危险点应力状态是影响断裂机理及变化规律的主要因素。对于同种材料,随着应力三维度代数值从小向大变化材料的断裂机制由塑性剪切断裂逐渐转变为脆性断裂。本文通过对几种材料的脆性断裂危险点和断裂方向的研究给出了脆断宏观破坏条件。     

复合型韧性断裂实验和控制参数

通过对不同韧性材料在各种平面复合载荷形式下裂纹启裂阶段裂端变形、启裂位置和扩展方向的系统的宏微观实验验证及计算分析,考察了韧性断裂参数空穴扩张比的分布特征和裂纹启裂及扩展方向的关系．得到：对于不同韧性的材料,在裂端的钝化变形区域,空穴扩张比的极大值区对应干裂纹的启裂位置,裂纹启裂时钝化裂端前缘空穴扩张比的临界值不敏感于复合比的变化．而对于裂纹启裂后的扩展方向,则需根据具体材料在相应的特定区域中比较空穴扩张比参数极大值的分布特征,需经进一步的分析,从而确定裂纹的扩展方向．实验及计算结果表明,尽管复合型断裂时裂纹启裂及扩展的机理极其复杂,用于韧性材料复合型断裂的空穴扩张比参数仍能很好地预测裂端的启裂及扩展方向,可作为复合型韧性断裂过程的控制参数．     

分子动力学模拟含不同初始缺陷单晶镍的断裂行为与应力演化

断裂是一个跨尺度复杂的物理过程,对宏观尺度的断裂行为已有深入的研究和发展,然而对微观尺度的断裂行为及断裂过程中应力场的变化缺乏深入的理解。本文通过分子动力学模拟,研究了具有不同初始缺陷(尖锐裂纹、钝裂纹和孔洞)的单晶镍的断裂行为和应力分布特征。结果表明,不同的初始缺陷导致了不同的断裂机制、断裂强度和抗断裂性能。含初始孔洞的单晶镍样品有最高的断裂强度和最强的抗断裂性能,这与孔洞扩展过程中堆积层错的形成密切相关。其次是含初始钝裂纹的样品,在裂纹扩展过程中出现由[100]超位错发射引起的裂尖钝化;含尖锐裂纹的样品表现为脆性断裂,裂尖原子没有出现微结构的变化,其强度和抗断裂性能最低。此外,不同的初始缺陷也会导致断裂过程中应力分布的变化,对含有尖锐裂纹的脆性断裂试样,高应力(拉伸应力、平均应力和米塞斯应力)总是出现在扩展裂纹的裂尖。而对于含有钝裂纹或孔洞的韧性断裂试样,高应力不仅分布在裂尖,也分布在位错发射和堆积层错形成的区域,在裂纹/孔洞扩展之前,应力随着加载时间的增加而迅速增加,而一旦裂纹或孔洞开始扩展,应力增加非常缓慢或几乎不增加,但拉伸应力值始终大于平均应力和米塞斯应力值。这表明,在I型...