Towards understanding the brittle–ductile transition in the extreme manufacturing

The brittle–ductile transition(BDT) widely exists in the manufacturing with extremely small deformation scale, thermally assisted machining, and high-speed machining. This paper reviews the BDT in extreme manufacturing. The factors affecting the BDT in extreme manufacturing are analyzed, including the deformation scale and deformation temperature induced brittle-to-ductile transition, and the reverse transition induced by grain size and strain rate. A discussion is arranged to explore the mechanisms of BDT and how to improve the machinability based on the BDT. It is proposed that the mutual transition between brittleness and ductility results from the competition between the occurrence of plastic deformation and the propagation of cracks. The brittleness or ductility of machined material should benefit a specific manufacturing process, which can be regulated by the deformation scale, deformation temperature and machining speed.

BRITTLE-DUCTILE TRANSITION OF PP/EPDM/ELASTOMERIC NANO-PARTICLE TERNARY BLENDS

The brittle-ductile transition is a very important phenomenon for polymer toughening. Polypropylene （PP） is often toughened by using rubbers, e.g., ethylene-propylene diene monomer （EPDM） has often been used as a modifier. In this article, the toughening of PP by using a new kind of rubber, known as elastomeric nano-particle （ENP）, and the brittleductile transition of PP/EPDM/ENP was studied. Compared to PP/EPDM binary blends, the brittle-ductile transition of PP/EPDM/ENP ternary blends occurred at lower EPDM contents. SEM experiment was carried out to investigate the etched and impact-fractured surfaces. ENP alone had no effect on the impact strength of PP, however, with the same EPDM content, PP/EPDM/ENP ternary blends had smaller particle size, better dispersion and smaller interparticle distance in contrary to PP/EPDM binary blends, which promoted the brittle-ductile transition to occur earlier.

The Ductile to Brittle Transition Behavior of the Modified 9Cr-1Mo Steel and Its Laser Welds

The ductile to brittle transition temperature (DBTT) of the modified 9Cr-1Mo steel and its laser welds was studied. The increase in grain size of the weld structure ascended the DBTT of the steel significantly. The transformation of retained austenite at martensite interlath boundaries into untempered and/or twinned martensite could also contribute to increased DBTTs of the steel and its welds tempered at 540℃.

DUCTILEBRITTLETRANSITION OF POLYCRYSTALLINE Ni_3Al WITH VARYING GRAIN SIZE

It is known that in B (un)doped Ni 3Al polycrystals, the dependence of yield strength on grain size follows the Hall Petch relationship: σ y= σ 0+ K y d -1/2 , and the slope K y can be reduced by B doping owing to the lowering of grain boundary resistance to slip transmission. If the intergranular cracking in polycrystalline Ni 3Al occurs from the microcavity along the grain boundaries, the effective external tensile stress for the propagation of the crack like microcavity along the grain boundaries can be deduced as: σ f= σ i+ K u d -1/2 , where K u reflects the effects of such factors as environment, strain rate, boron doping and the orientation of the grain boundary on the trend of intergranular cracking. For loaded polycrystalline Ni 3Al, it should be competitive between the intergranular cracking and slip transmission across the grain boundary. Therefore, comparing the varieties of both σ y and σ f with grain size, the dependence of ductile brittle transition on grain size, and the effects of the above factors on ductile brittle transition can be expected. The model also predicts that there exists a critical grain size for the ductile brittle transition of polycrystalline Ni 3Al alloys, and B doping can increase the critical grain size due to the reduction of the slope K y and the increase of K u. The reported experimental results verified the above model.

PROBABILISTIC MODELING OF BRITTLE FRACTURE WITH PRIOR DUCTILE CRACK EXTENSION

A computation framework for brittle fracture which incorporates weakest link statistics and a microme- chanics model reflecting reflecting local damage of the material is described.The Weibull stress W emerges as a probabilistic fracture parameter to define the condition leading material failure. Unstable crack propa- gation occurs at a critical value of W which may be attained paior to or following some amount of duc- tile crack extension. A realistic model of ductile crack growth using the computation cell methodology is used to define the evolution of near tip stress fields during crack extension. An application of proposed framework to predict the measured geometry and ductile tearing effects on the statistical distributio of fracture toughness for the pipe line steel welded joint is described.

Mechanism of brittle-ductile transition of a glass-ceramic rigid substrate

The hardness, elastic modulus, and scratch resistance of a glass-ceramic rigid substrate were measured by nanoindentation and nanoscratch, and the fracture toughness was measured by indentation using a Vickers indenter. The results show that the hardness and elastic modulus at a peak indentation depth of 200 nm are 9.04 and 94.70 GPa, respectively. These values reflect the properties of the glass-ceramic rigid substrate. The fracture toughness value of the glass-ceramic rigid substrate is 2.63 MPa？m1/2. The material removal mechanisms are seen to be directly related to normal force on the tip. The critical load and scratch depth estimated from the scratch depth profile after scratching and the friction profile are 268.60 mN and 335.10 nm, respectively. If the load and scratch depth are under the critical values, the glass-ceramic rigid substrate will undergo plastic flow rather than fracture. The formula of critical depth of cut described by Bifnao et al. is modified based on the difference of critical scratch depth

Anisotropic brittle-ductile transition of monocrystalline sapphire during orthogonal cutting and nanoindentation experiments

Single-crystal sapphire is utilized as a high-performance engineering material,especially in extreme and harsh environments.However,due to its extreme hardness and brittleness,the machinability of sapphire is still a challenge.By means of nanoindentation and plunge-cut experiments,the anisotropic brittle-ductile transition of the prismatic M-plane and rhombohedral R-plane is examined by analyzing crack morphologies and the critical depth-of-cut(CDC).The experimental results of the nanoindentation tests are correlated to the plunge-cut experiment.Both the prism plane and the rhombohedral crystal plane exhibit a two-fold symmetry of ductility with various crack patterns along the machined grooves.The direction-dependent plasticity of the hexagonal sapphire crystal is mainly connected to a twinning process accompanied by slip dislocation.

INVESTIGATION OF HYDROGEN INDUCED DUCTILE BRITTLE TRANSITION IN 7175 ALUMINUM ALLOY

Effects of hydrogen on the mechanical properties of differently aged 7175 aluminum alloys were investigated by using cathodic H-permeation, slow strain rate tension and so on. The results indicate that both the yield stress and the percentage reduction of area decrease with increasing hydrogen charging time, and the degree of reduction decreases as aging time increases for the same hydrogen charging time.

Fine-tuning the ductile-brittle transition temperature of Mg_2Si intermetallic compound via Al doping

Brittleness is a dominant issue that restricts potential applications of Mg_2Si intermetallic compounds(IMC). In this paper, guided by first-principles calculations, we found that Al doping will enhance the ductility of Mg_2Si. The underlying mechanism is that Al doping could reduce the electronic exchange effect between Mg and Si atoms, and increase the volume module/shear modulus ratio, both of which are beneficial to the deformation capability of Mg_2Si. Experimental investigations were then carried out to verify the calculation results with Al doping contents ranging from Al-free to 10 wt%. Results showed that the obtained ductile-brittle transition temperature of the Mg_2Si–Al alloy decreased and the corresponding ductility increased. Specifically, the ductile-brittle transition temperature could be reduced by about 100℃. When the content of Al reached 6 wt%, α-Al phase started to precipitate, and the ductile-brittle transition temperature of the alloy no longer decreased.

CRACK TIP STRUCTURE AND DUCTILE-BRITTLE TRANSITION IN BULK SINGLE CRYSTALS

Based on the crack tip structure a new model of ductile -brittle transition was proposed. Using this new model we calculated the dependence of the transition temperature-strain rate over a wide range of strain rate. Finally the significance of this new model is discussed in detail.

RANDOM-FUZZY MODEL FOR THE DUCTILE/BRITTLE TRANSITION

Based on a large experimental sample, the influence of stress triaxiality and temperature have been studied on the growth of micro voids and the ductile/brittle transition (DBT) of 40Cr steel. Ductile and brittle fractures have been investigated simultaneously. The experiments show that the ductile fracture is controlled by the micro void mechanism,and the critical void growth ratio can be used as the criterion of ductile fracture. The brittle fracture is modeled by an embedded penny crack, and a micro stress intensity with a characteristic length can be used as the criterion of the brittle fracture. The DBT is the result of the competition of the two mechanisms. Which exists in the fracture of all specimens simultaneously. The distributions of model parameters were measured experimentally. A random model and a random-fuzzy model for DBT were presented. The comparison between the calculated and experimental results shows that the random-fuzzy model can model the DBT satisfactorily.

EFFECTS OF INTERPARTICLE DISTANCE,TEMPERATURE AND INTERFACIAL ADHESION ON BRITTLE-DUCTILE TRANSITION FOR NYLON 6/ABS BLENDS

The toughness of blends composed of nylon 6 and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene(ABS) compatibilized by using styrene-maleic anhydride(SMA) as a compatibilizer was measured over a wide temperature region.Results reveal that the combining effects of particle size and volume fraction of ABS on the toughness of nylon 6/ABS/SMA blends can be described through plotting brittle-ductile transition of the impact strength versus the interparticle distance(ID) on the assumption that ABS domains relieve the triaxial te...

EFFECT OF LOADING RATE AND TEMPERATURE ON DUCTILE-BRITTLE TRANSITION OF A CARBON STEEL

The dynamic fracture toughness of a mild steel has been studied at different loading rates and temperatures.The material exhibits a transition from tough to brittle fracture with the chang- ing loading rate alone.Analysis of the fracture process by the theory of thermal activation suggests that the fracture activation energy approximates to the bond energy of the{100}of a unit cell.The toughness can be resolved into two parts,J-(fd)=J_a+J_l,where J_a is the athermal part,being independent on temperature and loading rate,while J_l=(K/K_o)^(1/n)exp(Q_f/nkT),which controls the fracture process is temperature and load- ing rate dependent.The transition of fracture mechanism caused by both temperature and loading rate is associated with the thermal movement of atoms.

BRITTLE-DUCTILE TRANSITION OF POLYMERS AND ITS PERCOLATION MODEL

The brittle-ductile transition (BDT) of particlc toughened polymers was extensively studied in terms ofmorphology, strain rate, and temperature. The calculation results showed that both the critical interparticle distance (ID_c) andthe brittle-ductile transition temperature (T_(BD)) of polymers were a function of strain rate. The ID_c reduced nonlinearly withincreasing strain rate, whereas T_(BD) increased considerably with increasing strain rate. The effects of temperature andplasticizer concentration on BDT were discussed using a percolation model. The results were in agreement with theexperiments.

Relationship between Fracture Toughness and Fracture Surface Fractal Dimension in AISI 4340 Steel

This study analyzes the relationship between fracture toughness and the fracture surface fractal dimension for a set of twenty-four CT-type AISI 4340 steel specimens heat treated to a variety of tensile strengths. Specimens were tested in accordance with ASTM E 399. Their respective fracture surfaces were plated, polished, photographed under an SEM in BSE mode and measured according to the Richardson method to obtain fractal dimensions. For brittle materials the limited results are consistent with previous literature: increasing fractal dimension with increasing toughness. For partially or fully ductile materials the results indicate a decrease in fractal dimension with an increase in fracture toughness. The data are modeled using a variation of the function applied to ceramics. Fracture in a ductile mode is characterized by the formation of dimples which exhibit fractal characteristics. The results are discussed in terms of the micromechanisms of fracture.

CHARACTERISTIC TRANSITION TEMPERATURE OF BRITTLENESS OF LOW CARBON STEEL

On the basis of analysis of low carbon steel fracture macro-features and micro-processes at low temperature,the definition was given of the characteristic transition temperature of brittleness,T_(pm),and its physical meaning was expounded.Discussion was carried out of phys- ical characteristic of variation at T_(pm) in respect of the fracture toughness and property of crack arrest.In addition,research was made on the application of T_(pm),which can give infor- mation about the transition of the fracture toughness,the property of crack arrest and critical crack size,to estimation the brittleness of low carbon steel at low temperatures.

EFFECT OF DUCTILE-BRITYLE TRANSITION TEMPERATURE OF Al-Si COATING ON FATIGUE PROPERTIES OF Ni-BASE SUPERALLOYS

The effect of Al content on the ductile-brittle transition temperature of Al-Si coating and the effect of fracture behaviour.of the Al-Si coating on the fatigue properties of Ni-base superallovs have been investigated to propose the theoretical basis of search for an optimum of mechanical properties of the high temperature coating on Ni-base alloys.

厚钢板EH40低温CTOD韧性试验研究

为了保证新研发的厚钢板EH40除了具有高强度外,还要有足够的低温韧性。依据英国规范BS7448对其进行所谓全厚度低温(-10℃)CTOD试验。介绍CTOD的概念、试验方法、试验过程及其检验试验结果有效性的方法。同时讨论厚板在国际船级社认证中进行CTOD试验的问题,包括试验规范的选择、试验温度的确定等。并通过韧脆转变曲线确定了EH40钢具有良好的低温韧性,可以用于一般海洋结构物的制造。

Micro-and submicrostructural evidence for high-temperature brittle-ductile transition deformation of hornblende: Case study of high-grade mylonites from Diancangshan, western Yunnan

OM (optical microscope)/TEM (transmission electron microscope) micro- and submicrostructural analysis of hornblende rocks sheared at high temperatures from the Diancangshan area, western Yunnan reveals evidence for deformation in the brittle-ductile transition of hornblende at middle crustal level (about 637℃ and 0.653 GPa) and mechanisms of deformation in the transitional regime are further discussed. Sheared hornblende rocks at middle crustal level have typical mylonitic microstructures, shown by coarse porphyroclasts and fine matrix grains. Different mineral phases in the rocks show distinct deformation characteristics. Hornblende and feldspar grains are intensely deformed with ob- vious grainsize reduction, but quartz grains are recrystallized dominantly by grain growth. Hornblende grains show typical brittle-ductile transition nature. Initial crystallographic orientations of porphyro- clasts have strong effects on the behavior of grains during deformation. There are mainly two types of porphyroclasts, type I "hard" porphyroclasts and type II "soft" porphyroclasts, with [001] perpendicular and parallel to external shear stresses respectively. "Hard" porphyroclasts generally occur as compe- tent grains that are rarely deformed or sometimes deformed by fracturing and dislocation tangling. "Soft" porphyroclasts are highly deformed primarily by dislocation tangling (as shown in the cores of the porphyroclasts), but twinning, dislocation glide and climb probably due to hydrolytic weakening also contribute to dynamic recrystallization of the porphyroclasts into fine grains in the matrix. The micro- and submicrostructures of the two types of porphyroclasts and fine-grained matrix provide powerful evidence for the behavior of brittle-ductile transition of hornblende grains. It is concluded that twinning nucleation is one of the most important processes that operate during dynamic recrystalliza- tion of hornblende crystals at the brittle-ductile transition. (100) [001] twin gliding and dislocation creep (dislocation glide and climb) are mutually enhanced during twinning nucleation. As a newly discovered mechanism of dynamic recrystallization, it may have played more important roles than ever recognized during dynamic recrystallization of crystals with twins in the brittle-ductile transition.

Study on fracture behavior of SiCp/A356 composites

The fracture behavior of SiCp/A356 composite at room and high temperatures was studied. Under tensile stress condition at room temperature, the fracture is mostly a combination of the brittle fracture of SiC particles and ductile fracture of A356 matrix. As the tensile temperature increases, the composite changes the main fracture behavior to the separation fracture of the bonding surface between SiC particles and A356 matrix. When the tensile temperature reaches 573 K, the fracture behavior of the composites is almost the whole separation fracture of the bonding surface, which is the main strengthening mechanism at high temperature. Under the cycle stress condition at room and high temperatures, the main fracture behavior of the composites is always a combination of the brittle fracture of SiC particles and ductile fracture of A356 matrix. However, under the cycle stress at high temperature, cycle behavior of the composites changes from cycle hardening at room temperature to the cycle softening at high temperature.