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.     

The effect of crack orientation on fracture behavior of tantalum by multiscale simulation

The quasicontinuum (QC) multiscale method is used to investigate anisotropic fracture behaviors of body-centered cubic (BCC) rare metal tantalum (Ta) loaded in Mode I and different fracture mechanisms are discussed from nanoscopic to continuum perspectives to have a deep understanding of brittle and ductile fracture. Initial crack deflection, brittle fracture by cleaving along low surface energy plane, ductile fracture as a result of dislocation emission and fracture accompanied by deformation twinning are all observed near crack tips of different crystal orientations. Particularly, some of these fracture mechanisms are found to be consistent with the latest experimental results. By examining different fracture behaviors, we find the surface energy and the available slip planes play a combined role in determining the fracture mechanisms near a crack tip. Both isotropic and anisotropic critical stress intensity factors are derived and compared for different crack orientations. A straightforward criterion that is proved to be applicable is used to distinguish brittle fracture from ductile fracture.     

Effect of constraint on fracture controlled by stress or strain

To interpret fracture of solids, an appropriate fracture criterion is required. It is often believed that the level of strain ahead of a crack tip controls the fracture event for materials exhibiting high ductility, e.g. ductile fracture of A533B steel in the upper shelf regime. And the level of stress ahead of a crack tip controls the brittle fracture event, e.g. cleavage fracture of A533B steel in the lower shelf regime. Within each regime (ductile or brittle), the level of constraint of a specimen or structure determines the magnitude of the apparent fracture toughness. In this paper, we address the difference in the effect of constraint on the stress- or strain-controlled fracture. It is found that the constraint plays an opposite role to the apparent fracture toughness values for strain-controlled vs. stress-controlled fracture.     

金属材料中低加载速率下的动态韧脆转变及断裂韧性测量

金属材料在冲击下的韧脆转变现象和动态断裂韧性的测量是金属材料冲击力学性能研究的重要组成部分.针对金属材料在冲击下的韧脆转变现象认识不足和韧性材料在较低加载率下动态J-R阻力曲线难以测量的现状,提出了采用高速材料试验机,设计专用试验夹具,测量15MnTi钢和11MnNiMo钢在不同加载速率下的韧脆转变过程,以及裂尖约束对...     

基于数字散斑相关方法测定Ⅰ型裂纹应力强度因子

提出了一种通过数字散斑相关方法测定金属材料Ⅰ型裂纹尖端位置和应力强度因子的实验方法.实验采用疲劳试验机对含Ⅰ型缺口的Cr12MoV钢试件预制裂纹,通过数字散斑相关方法测试试件在三点弯曲加载条件下裂纹的扩展过程及裂尖区域的位移场.将位移场数据代入裂尖位移场方程组,采用牛顿-拉普森方法求解含未知参量的裂尖非线性位移场方程组,计算裂尖位置和应力强度因子.实验结果表明,采用该方法可以准确地测定金属材料Ⅰ型裂纹应力强度因子、裂尖位置及裂纹扩展长度,解决了以往研究中因不能准确测定裂纹尖端位置,而无法准确计算Ⅰ型裂纹裂尖断裂参数的难题,揭示了金属材料裂纹扩展过程中应力强度因子演化特征.     

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.     

Three-dimensional speckle interferometric investigation of the stress-intensity factor along a crack front

The variation in Mode I stress-intensity factor throughout the thickness of an ASTM standard compact tension specimen was determined using scattered-light speckle interferometry. Two very thin sheets of coincident coherent light traveling in opposite directions were passed through a Plexiglas specimen normal to the crack faces. A double-exposed photograph of the scattered-light speckle pattern was taken while the specimen was subjected to a small load increment. From this double-exposed photograph, the change in the crack-opening displacement could be determined. From the information about the crack-opening displacement in the region of the crack tip, the stress-intensity factor was calculated for various interior planes and on the surface of the specimen. For the compact tension specimen tested, the stress-intensity factor did not vary throughout the specimen's thickness. The method of scattered-light speckle interferometry proved to be very powerful in solving this complex three-dimensional problem.     

Molecular-dynamics simulation-based cohesive zone representation of intergranular fracture processes in aluminum

A traction-displacement relationship that may be embedded into a cohesive zone model for microscale problems of intergranular fracture is extracted from atomistic molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations. An MD model for crack propagation under steady-state conditions is developed to analyze intergranular fracture along a flat Σ99 [1 1 0] symmetric tilt grain boundary in aluminum. Under hydrostatic tensile load, the simulation reveals asymmetric crack propagation in the two opposite directions along the grain boundary. In one direction, the crack propagates in a brittle manner by cleavage with very little or no dislocation emission, and in the other direction, the propagation is ductile through the mechanism of deformation twinning. This behavior is consistent with the Rice criterion for cleavage vs. dislocation blunting transition at the crack tip. The preference for twinning to dislocation slip is in agreement with the predictions of the Tadmor and Hai criterion. A comparison with finite element calculations shows that while the stress field around the brittle crack tip follows the expected elastic solution for the given boundary conditions of the model, the stress field around the twinning crack tip has a strong plastic contribution. Through the definition of a Cohesive-Zone-Volume-Element—an atomistic analog to a continuum cohesive zone model element—the results from the MD simulation are recast to obtain an average continuum traction-displacement relationship to represent cohesive zone interaction along a characteristic length of the grain boundary interface for the cases of ductile and brittle decohesion.     

The crack tip zone shielding effect for ductile particle reinforced brittle materials

The crack tip zone shielding effect for the ductile particle reinforced brittle materials is analyzed by using a micromechanics constitutive theory. The theory is developed here to determine the elastoplastic constitutive behavior of the composite. The elastoplastic particles, with isotropic or kinematical hardening, are uniformly dispersed in the brittle elastic matrix. The method proposed is based on the Mori-Tanaka's concept of average stress in the composite. The macroscopic yielding condition and the incremental stress strain relation of the composite during plastic deformation are explicity given in terms of the macroscopioc applied stress and the microstructural parameters of the composite such as the volume fraction and yield stress of ductile particles, elastic constants of the two phases, etc. Finally, the contribution of the plastic deformation in the particles near a crack tip to the toughening of the composite is evaluated. The project supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China     

Residually Stressed Bimaterial Beam Specimen for Measuring Environmentally Assisted Crack Growth

Background:

Subcritical crack growth can occur in a brittle material when the stress intensity factor is smaller than the fracture toughness if an oxidizing agent (such as water) is present at the crack tip.

Objective:

We present a novel bi-material beam specimen which can measure environmentally assisted crack growth rates. The specimen is “self-loaded” by residual stress and requires no external loading.

Methods:

Two materials with different coefficient of thermal expansion are diffusion bonded at high temperature. After cooling to room temperature a subcritical crack is driven by thermal residual stresses. A finite element model is used to design the specimen geometry in terms of material properties in order to achieve the desired crack tip driving force.

Results:

The specimen is designed so that the crack driving force decreases as the crack extends, thus enabling the measurement of the crack velocity versus driving force relationship with a single test. The method is demonstrated by measuring slow crack growth data in soda lime silicate glass and validated by comparison to previously published data.

Conclusions:

The self-loaded nature of the specimen makes it ideal for measuring the very low crack velocities needed to predict brittle failure at long lifetimes.

     

The brittle and ductile behavior of clay samples containing a crack under mixed mode loading

The mechanics of propagation of a single crack in brittle and ductile samples of clay as well as their mode of failure were investigated. The crack in the brittle and in the ductile samples was subjected to a mixed-mode (Mode I and Mode II) type of loading. In the brittle and ductile samples, secondary cracks developed from the tips of the original crack. The secondary cracks did not follow the plane of the original crack but formed an angle α with this plane. The angle of crack propagation α was greater in the brittle than in the ductile samples. The brittle samples failed when the secondary cracks reached the edges of the samples. Their mode of failure was a typical tensile failure. In the ductile samples, the secondary cracks extended for a limited distance from the tips of the original crack and did not influence the failure of the samples that was recorded to be in shear. The Maximum Tangential Stress criterion predicted well the direction of crack propagation in the brittle clay samples. The direction of crack propagation in the ductile samples of clay was found to be a function of their water content. From the laboratory results, a relationship from which to obtain the angle of crack propagation α in the ductile samples is presented.     

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.     

Three-dimensional finite element analysis of thin films cracking along ceramic substrates

In the present work, three-dimensional finite element method is used to calculate the J integral and the size of plastic zone at the interfacial crack tip of ductile films bonded to a ceramic substrate in mode I. The effects of the specimen thickness and the crack length on the variation of the J integral and the size of the plastic zone at the crack tip were highlighted. The J integral and the plastic zones were computed in the surface and the middle of the film/substrate composite.     

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.     

Transient analysis in a fracturing magnesium plate

Transient displacement and strain distributions in the vicinity of running-crack tips were determined experimentally in centrally notched magnesium plates. The moiré-fringe technique was used together with a Q-spoiled laser which was the light source for single-flash photography. The specimen was designed such that net-section yield occurred prior to fracture and, thus, the crack propagated through the yielded region. Displacement distributions in the vicinity of such running-crack tips were found to vary as\(\sqrt r \) for radial distances as close asr=0.08 in. Transient moiré-fringe patterns were then differentiated graphically to obtain longitudinal strain distributions in the vicinities of running-crack tips. These transient-displacement and transient-strain distributions were compared with equivalent static results. For this ductile material, both the transient and static results showed qualitative agreement with the displacement and strain distributions in an infinitely elastic plate in the region ahead of the crack tip. For the region above the crack tip, the transient and static results differed appreciably.     

三点弯曲试样动态应力强度因子计算研究

利用Hopkinson压杆对三点弯曲试样进行冲击加载,采集了垂直裂纹面距裂尖2mm和与裂纹面成60°距裂尖5mm处的应变信号。根据裂尖附近测试的应变信号计算试样的动态应力强度因子,并与有限元计算结果进行比较,结果表明由于裂尖有一段疲劳裂纹区,通过裂尖附近应变信号来计算动态应力强度因子时,如果裂尖位置确定不准及粘贴应变片位置不够准确对计算结果将带来很大影响。因此利用应变片法计算动态应力强度因子时,为了获得更准确的计算结果,在实验后应对试件裂纹面进行分析测量,重新确定裂尖位置,必要时需对应变片至裂尖距离进行修正后再计算动态应力强度因子值。     

Measurement of three-dimensional Mode-I stress intensity factor using multiple embedded grid moire technique

Multiple embedded grid moire and strain gage techniques are used to calculate the variation in Mode-I stress intensity factor throughout the thickness of ASTM E-399 standard compact tension specimens of Merlon polycarbonate. The specimen grids near the crack tip on the surface and in the interior were recorded for the unloaded condition and for various loaded states using high resolution photographic techniques. Optical processing produced moire patterns from which the change in the crack opening displacement could be determined. From the information about the crack opening displacement in the region of the crack tip, the Mode-I stress intensity factor was calculated for various interior planes and on the surface of the specimen. The stress intensity factor was found to be higher in the midplane than on the surface, and it causes crack initiation to start at the midplane.     

基于数字图像相关性方法的脆性材料拉氏反分析实验技术

利用分离式Hopkinson压杆作为加载系统,借助超高速数字图像相关性分析方法,发展了长杆试件拉氏反分析实验技术,并用于研究脆性材料在小变形条件下的动态本构特性。通过超高速相机实时拍摄冲击加载下长杆试件变形的散斑图像,再对散斑图像进行数字图像相关性（digital image correlation,DIC）分析,获得长杆试件表面速度场和应变场。随后,以脆性材料PMMA（polymethyl methacrylate）为例,从DIC分析得到的速度场中提取出不同拉格朗日位置上质点速度时程曲线,构建路径线连接整个速度场,再结合零初始条件,数值求解得到了试件中的应力时程曲线,消去时间参数后,获得了脆性材料PMMA的动态应力-应变曲线,并与Hopkinson压杆实验和准静态压缩实验的结果进行了对比,揭示了PMMA材料在小应变条件下的黏弹性本构响应特征。     

A new photoelastic model for studying fatigue crack closure

The photoelastic analysis of crack tip stress intensity factors has been historically developed for use on sharp notches in brittle materials that idealize the cracked structure. This approach, while useful, is not applicable to cases where residual effects of fatigue crack development (e.g., plasticity, surface roughness) affect the applied stress intensity range. A photoelastic model of these fatigue processes has been developed using polycarbonate, which is sufficiently ductile to allow the growth of a fatigue crack. The resultant stress field has been modeled mathematically using the stress potential function approach of Muskhelishvili to predict the stresses near a loaded but closed crack in an elastic body. The model was fitted to full-field photoelastic data using a combination of a generic algorithm and the downhill simplex method. The technique offers a significant advance in the ability to characterize the behavior of fatigue cracks with plasticity-induced closure, and hence to gain new insights into the associated mechanisms.     

热辐射应力图像分析确定裂纹尖端塑性区

本文借助于热辐应力图像分析技术记录了铝质紧养伤拉伸试件的热辐射应力图像。根据裂尖周围温度变化曲线的分布规律确定其特征区的,从而得以裂尖塑性区的开头曲线,并与理论值比较,符合良好。对裂纹扩展面进行ＳＥＭ分析,得出该试件的断裂特性,对于进行细观损伤研究有重要的意义。