Size effects on the tensile strength and fracture toughness of granitic rock in different tests

This study investigates the tensile failure mechanisms in granitic rock samples at different scales by means of different types of tests.To do that,we have selected a granitic rock type and obtained samples of different sizes with the diameter ranging from 30 mm to 84 mm.The samples have been subjected to direct tensile strength(DTS)tests,indirect Brazilian tensile strength(BTS)tests and to two fracture toughness testing approaches.Whereas DTS and fracture toughness were found to consistently grow with sample size,this trend was not clearly identified for BTS,where after an initial grow,a plateau of results was observed.This is a rather complete database of tensile related properties of a single rock type.Even if similar databases are rare,the obtained trends are generally consistent with previous scatter and partial experimental programs.However,different observations apply to different types of rocks and experimental approaches.The differences in variability and mean values of the measured parameters at different scales are critically analysed based on the heterogeneity,granular structure and fracture mechanics approaches.Some potential relations between parameters are revised and an indication is given on potential sample sizes for obtaining reliable results.Extending this database with different types of rocks is thought to be convenient to advance towards a better understanding of the tensile strength of rock materials.

Effects of microstructure characteristics on the tensile properties and fracture toughness of TA15 alloy fabricated by hot isostatic pressing

Powder hot isostatic pressing(HIP) is an effective method to achieve near-net-shape manufacturing of high-quality complex thinwalled titanium alloy parts, and it has received extensive attention in recent years. However, there are few reports about the microstructure characteristics on the strengthening and toughening mechanisms of powder hot isostatic pressed(HIPed) titanium alloys. Therefore, TA15powder was prepared into alloy by HIP approach, which was used to explore the microstructure characteristics at different HIP temperatures and the corresponding tensile properties and fracture toughness. Results show that the fabricated alloy has a “basket-like structure” when the HIP temperature is below 950℃, consisting of lath clusters and surrounding small equiaxed grains belts. When the HIP temperature is higher than 950℃, the microstructure gradually transforms into the Widmanstatten structure, accompanied by a significant increase in grain size. The tensile strength and elongation are reduced from 948 MPa and 17.3% for the 910℃ specimen to 861 MPa and 10% for the 970℃ specimen.The corresponding tensile fracture mode changes from transcrystalline plastic fracture to mixed fracture including intercrystalline cleavage.The fracture toughness of the specimens increases from 82.64 MPa·m^(1/2)for the 910℃ specimen to 140.18 MPa·m^(1/2)for the 970℃ specimen.Specimens below 950℃ tend to form holes due to the prior particle boundaries(PPBs), which is not conducive to toughening. Specimens above 950℃ have high fracture toughness due to the crack deflection, crack branching, and shear plastic deformation of the Widmanstatten structure. This study provides a valid reference for the development of powder HIPed titanium alloy.

Mechanism and Method of Testing Fracture Toughness and Impact Absorbed Energy of Ductile Metals by Spherical Indentation Tests

To address the problem of conventional approaches for mechanical property determination requiring destructive sampling, which may be unsuitable for in-service structures, the authors proposed a method for determining the quasi-static fracture toughness and impact absorbed energy of ductile metals from spherical indentation tests (SITs). The stress status and damage mechanism of SIT, mode I fracture, Charpy impact tests, and related tests were frst investigated through fnite element (FE) calculations and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations, respectively. It was found that the damage mechanism of SITs is diferent from that of mode I fractures, while mode I fractures and Charpy impact tests share the same damage mechanism. Considering the diference between SIT and mode I fractures, uniaxial tension and pure shear were introduced to correlate SIT with mode I fractures. Based on this, the widely used critical indentation energy (CIE) model for fracture toughness determination using SITs was modifed. The quasi-static fracture toughness determined from the modifed CIE model was used to evaluate the impact absorbed energy using the dynamic fracture toughness and energy for crack initiation. The efectiveness of the newly proposed method was verifed through experiments on four types of steels: Q345R, SA508-3, 18MnMoNbR, and S30408.

New role of α phase in the fracture behavior and fracture toughness of a β-type bio-titanium alloy

The role of α precipitates formed during aging in the fracture toughness and fracture behavior of β-type bio-titanium alloy Ti–29Nb–13Ta–4.6Zr(TNTZ) was studied. Results showed that the fracture toughness of the TNTZ alloy aged at 723 K decreases to the minimum of 72.07–73.19 kJ·m^(-2)when the aging time is extended to 4–8 h and then gradually increases and reaches 144.89 kJ·m^(-2)after 72 h. The decrease in fracture toughness within the aging time of 4–8 h is caused by the large stress concentration at the tip of acicular α precipitates with a high aspect ratio and the preferential crack propagation along the inhomogeneous acicular α precipitates distributed in “V-shape” and “nearly perpendicular shape”. When the aging time is extended to 8–72 h, the precrack tip is uniformly blunted, and the crack is effectively deflected by α precipitates with multi long axis directions, more high homogeneity, low aspect ratio, and large number density. Analysis of the effect of αprecipitates on the fracture behavior suggested that the number of long axis directions of α precipitates is the key controlling factor for the fracture behavior and fracture toughness of the TNTZ alloy aged for different times.

A modified single edge V-notched beam method for evaluating surface fracture toughness of thermal barrier coatings

The surface fracture toughness is an important mechanical parameter for studying the failure behavior of air plasma sprayed(APS)thermal barrier coatings(TBCs).As APS TBCs are typical multilayer porous ceramic materials,the direct applications of the traditional single edge notched beam(SENB)method that ignores those typical structural characters may cause errors.To measure the surface fracture toughness more accurately,the effects of multilayer and porous characters on the fracture toughness of APS TBCs should be considered.In this paper,a modified single edge V-notched beam(MSEVNB)method with typical structural characters is developed.According to the finite element analysis(FEA),the geometry factor of the multilayer structure is recalculated.Owing to the narrower V-notches,a more accurate critical fracture stress is obtained.Based on the Griffith energy balance,the reduction of the crack surface caused by micro-defects is corrected.The MSEVNB method can measure the surface fracture toughness more accurately than the SENB method.

Tensile and tear-type fracture toughness of gypsum material:Direct and indirect testing methods

In this context,four specimens,i.e.(i)circumferentially notched cylindrical torsion(CNCT),(ii)circum-ferentially notched cylindrical direct tension(CNCDT),(iii)edge notch disc bend(ENDB)and(iv)three-point bend beam(3PBB),were utilized to measure the modesⅠandⅢfracture toughness values of gypsum.While the CNCT specimen provides pure modeⅢloading in a direct manner,this pure mode condition is indirectly produced by the ENDB specimen.The ENDB specimen provided lower KⅢc and a non-coplanar(i.e.twisted)fracture surface compared with the CNCT specimen,which showed a planar modeⅢfracture surface.The ENDB specimen is also employed for conducting pure modeⅠ(with different crack depths)and mixed modeⅠ/Ⅲtests.KIc value was independent of the notch depth,and it was consistent with the RILEM and ASTM standard methods.But the modeⅢfracture results were highly sensitive to the notch depth.While the fracture resistance against modeⅢwas significantly lower than that of modeⅠ,the greater work of fracture under modeⅢwas noticeable.

Mechanical properties and fracture toughness of rail steels and thermite welds at low temperature

Brittle fracture occurs frequently in rails and thermite welded joints, which intimidates the security and reliability of railway ser- vice. Railways in cold regions, such as Qinghai-Tibet Railway, make the problem of brittle fi＇acture in rails even worse. A series of tests such as uniaxial tensile tests, Charpy impact tests, and three-point bending tests were carried out at low temperature to investigate the mechanical properties and fracture toughness of U71Mn and U75V rail steels and their thermite welds. Fracture micromechanisms were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） on the fracture surfaces of the tested specimens. The ductility indices （percentage elongation aider frac- ture and percentage reduction of area） and the toughness indices （Charpy impact energy Ak and plane-strain fracture toughness Kic） of the two kinds of rail steels and the corresponding thermite welds all decrease as the temperature decreases. The thermite welds are more critical to fracture than the rail steel base metals, as indicated by a higher yield-to-ultimate ratio and a much lower Charpy impact energy. U71Mn rail steel is relatively higher in toughness than U75V, as demonstrated by larger Ak and Klc values. Therefore, U71Mn rail steel and the corresponding thermite weld are recommended in railway construction and maintenance in cold regions.

Effect of specimen thickness on Mode Ⅱ fracture toughness of rock

Anti symmetric four point bending specimens with different thickness, without and with guiding grooves, were used to conduct Mode Ⅱ fracture test and study the effect of specimen thickness on Mode Ⅱ fracture toughness of rock. Numerical calculations show that the occurrence of Mode Ⅱ fracture in the specimens without guiding grooves (when the inner and outer loading points are moved close to the notch plane) and with guiding grooves is attributed to a favorable stress condition created for Mode Ⅱ fracture, i.e. tensile stress at the notch tip is depressed to be lower than the tensile strength or to be compressive stress, and the ratio of shear stress to tensile stress at notch tip is very high. The measured value of Mode Ⅱ fracture toughness K ⅡC decreases with the increase of the specimen thickness or the net thickness of specimen. This is because a thick specimen promotes a plane strain state and thus results in a relatively small fracture toughness.

Fracture toughness and fracture behavior of SA508-Ⅲ steel at different temperatures

The fracture toughness of SA508-Ⅲ steel was studied in the temperature range from room temperature to 320℃ using the J-integral method. The fracture behavior of the steel was also investigated. It was found that the conditional fracture toughness （JQ） of the steel first decreased and then increased with increasing test temperature. The maximum and minimum values of do were 517.4 kJ/m^2 at 25℃ and 304.5 kJ/m^2 at 180℃, respectively. Dynamic strain aging （DSA） was also observed to occur when the temperature exceeded 260℃ with a certain strain rate. Both the dislocation density and the number of small dislocation cells effectively increased because of the occurrence of DSA; as a consequence, crack propagation was more strongly inhibited in the steel. Simultaneously, an increasing number of fine carbides precipitated under high stress at temperatures greater than 260℃. Thus, the deformation resistance of the steel was improved and the Jo was enhanced.

Impact toughness and fracture toughness of austempered ductile iron

The Impact toughness and fracture toughness of Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) are described. The notched and un-notched Charpy impact toughness of ADI at room temperature are somewhat lower than that of steel castings or forged steel pieces, however, they are approximately three times higher than that of normal pearlitic ductile iron. The impact toughness of ADI decreases with decreasing temperature; but at-40℃ it still maintains about 70% of the value at room temperature. The properties of fracture toughness are important in safety design and failure analysis. In this study all fracture toughness data of ADI are higher than that of conventional ductile iron, and are equivalent to or better than that of steel castings or forged steel pieces with the tensile strength equivalent to ADI.

MATERIAL FRACTURE TOUGHNESS DETERMINATION FOR POLYETHYLENE PIPE MATERIALS USING SMALL SCALE TEST RESULTS

The Small-Scale Steady State (S4) test has been recently developed in order to assess the fracture behaviour of polyethylene (PE) gas distribution pipe material during rapid axial crack propagation. Based on an investigation of the S4 test, a simulation model of S4 test has been developed. This paper describes the use of the results obtained from the S4 test and program modified from PFRAC (Pipeline Fracture Analysis Code) to evaluate the fracture toughness of the material, G(d), which could not be directly obtained from the test, and to predict critical pressure, p(c), for rapid crack propagation (RCP) in a full scale PE pipe. The algorithms for contact conditions are developed to consider the opening pipe wall impact against a series containment rings and the capabilities of PFRAC are also extended. When G(d) is evaluated, investigations are made on the effect of temperature, wall thickness and crack velocity. In addition, procedures to evaluate the critical pressure for the S4 test pipe are also discussed.

DYNAMIC FRACTURE TOUGHNESS OF ULTRASTRENGTH STEELS FOR AIRCRAFT

The plots of load vs deflection(P-D)for two ultra-strength steels 30CrMnSiNi2A and 300M has been examined on a Charpy impact tester with digital memory and microcomputer. A criterion was found to availably represent the dynamic fracture toughness,K_(Ic)~D ,of the steels under impact loading.The K_(Ic)~D,.can be calculated with suggesting that the turning point of change in compliance on the P-D plot is the point of destabilized crack propagation.The K_(Ic)~D of steel 300M,quenched at 870℃ ,separately tempered at 300℃ and 450℃,was esti- mated to be 55—70 MN/m^(3/2)and 54—67 MN/m^(3/2)respectively.The K_(Ic)calculated with accuracy about 20% seems to be available to the engineering evaluation.

EVALUATION OF EMBRITTLEMENT BEHAVIOR DUETO SENSITIZATION IN A CRYOGENIC AUSTENITICSTAINLESS STEEL BY MEANS OF SMALL PUNCHAND FRACTURE TOUGHNESS TESTS

In order to evaluate the tendency of mechanical properties degrudation due to weld-ing and other processing in materials used for supporting coils in super conducting rnaguets utilized in thermonuclear jusion reactore, a small punch (SP) test was used.This test, which was originally developed to study irradiation damage using miniatursized specimens was performed at 77 and 4 K for solution treated and sensitized JN1 austenitic stainless steel, a candidate cryogenic structural material. The area under the load-deflection curve up to the maximum applied load in SP test was defined as the SP enerpy, to characterize the resistance to fracture. Although solution treated material exhibited ductile fracture mode with high SP enerpy, embrittlement behavior due to sensitization at 650-800°for 1-5 h was shown clearlg by SP test with brittle intergranular fracture and decreased SP enerpy. Comparison of the results obtained by SP test with those by fracture toughness test showed the usefulness of SP test for evaluation of sensitization induced embrittlement at cryogenic temperature. The re-sults obtained in this study can be very usefol in predicting the degradation due to welding and other processing in cryogenic materials.

Fracture toughness of 12Cr2Mo1R steel at elevated temperature

The microstructure, tensile properties, and fracture toughness of 12Cr2Mo1R steel were studied. The results indicate that this steel is characterized by a bainite microstructure, in which several types of carbides precipitate along the ferrite laths. As the temperature increases from room temperature to 375℃ ,the strength of the steel increases slightly and the fracture toughness clearly decreases. However, when the temperature continues to increase up to 500 ℃, the strength decreases and the fracture toughness increases. At all the temperatures investigated,the strength and toughness of the developed 12Cr2Mo1R steel were capable of meeting the design requirements of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. The fracture of 12Cr2Mo1R steel at high temperature typically occurs in the ductile mode.

Dynamic Fracture Toughness Tests on Limestone

Limestone being sedimentary rock contains multiple bedding planes,which has vertical cracks or joints.As explosives apply high dynamic loading rate during blasting i.e.rock fragmentation&comminution process,the measure of critical SIF(stress intensity factor)is pertinent to be measured and is known as dynamic fracture toughness of limestone.In order to investigate the influence of several factors on the mode-I fracture toughness and fracture behavior of limestone,dynamic fracture toughness tests(mode-I)were conducted under various conditions of loading rate.The microstructure of rocks was also investigated to understand the dynamic fracture toughness and fracture mechanism of limestone.This paper deals with results of 11 limestone specimen subjected to dynamic fracture toughness tests.It was observed that crack surface velocity increases with increase in dynamic fracture toughness.The fracture velocity also increases with increase in dynamic fracture toughness.The fracture velocity in limestone increases between 1.14-5.09 times with increased fracture toughness.The crack surface velocity of limestone increases between 1.39-3.09 times with increase in dynamic fracture toughness.

Effects of precipitates and inclusions on the fracture toughness of hot rolling X70 pipeline steel plates

In order to investigate the fracture toughness, crack tip opening displacement （CTOD） experiments were conducted on two X70 pipeline steel plates with different rolling processes. Atter the experiments, optical microscopy （OM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM） were employed to observe the microstructure and fracture morphology. The effects of precipi- tates on the fracture toughness and the crack initiation mechanism induced by inclusions were analyzed. The CTOD result shows that the steel with a lower finishing cooling temperature has a higher fracture toughness. Inchisiom with different shapes and two kinds of precipi- tates with different sizes were observed. It can be concluded that precipitates with different sizes have different effects and mechanisms on the fracture toughness. Distinguished fi＇om the earlier researches, inclusions enriched in silicon can be also served as the crack initiation.

Improvement of Fracture Toughness Lanthanum Zirconate

La2Zr2O7 （LZ） is a promising thermal barrier coating material for the high temperature applications. The fracture toughness and microhardness of nanocrystalline LZ （n-LZ）, microcrystalline LZ （m-LZ） and LZ-5mol%8YSZ （LZ-5-8YSZ） composite （8YSZ for zirconia stabilized by 8 mol% ytrria） were studied. The n-LZ had a thermal expansion coefficient of （9.6±0.4）×10 -6 K -1 （200～1000℃） and fracture toughness of （1.98±0.07） MPa·m 1/2 which are obviously higher than those of the m-LZ （ （9.1±0.4）×10 -6 K -1 and （1.40±0.23） MPa·m 1/2, respectively）, indicating that nanofication was an efficient way to increase the toughness and thermal expansion coefficient of LZ. The composite LZ-5-8YSZ had a higher fracture toughness （（1.88±0.30） MPa·m 1/2） than LZ, which was close to that of 8YSZ densified by superhigh pressure （SHP）.

Dynamic fracture toughness of TA15ELI alloy studied by instrumented impact test

The dynamic fracture toughness of TA15ELI alloy with two types of microstructures was studied by instrumented impact test.Charpy specimens with both the 0.2 mm U-notch and the a/W = 0.2 pre-crack were adopted to compare notch sensitivity in the two microstructures.The result shows that the specimen with Widmanst？tten microstructure exhibits a better dynamic fracture toughness and lower notch sensitivity than that with lath-like microstructure.Fracture surfaces in the case of the two microstructures are analyzed to have a ductile and brittle mixed feature under dynamic loading.The fracture surface of lath-like microstructure is composed of dimples and tear ridges,while that of Widmanst？tten microstructure is covered with rough block-like facets and dimples and tear ridges.The α phase boundaries and α/β interfaces act as locations for void nucleation and crack arrest and deviation.The decrease in width of α phase lamellae leads to the increase in the amount of boundaries and interfaces,which causes the increase in the consumption of impact energy and results in the improvement in dynamic fracture toughness.

Fracture Toughness Properties of Three Different Biomaterials Measured by Nanoindentation

The fracture toughness of hard biomaterials, such as nacre, bovine hoof wall and beetle cuticle, is associated with fibrous or lamellar structures that deflect or stop growing cracks. Their hardness and reduced modulus were measured by using a nanoindenter in this paper. Micro/nanoscale cracks were generated by nanoindentation using a Berkovich tip. Nanoindentation of nacre and bovine hoof wall resulted in pile-up around the indent. It was found that the fracture toughness （Kc） of bovine hoof wall is the maximum, the second is nacre, and the elytra cuticle of dung beetle is the least one.

Effect of Aging on Fracture Toughness and Stress Corrosion Cracking Resistance of Forged 7475 Aluminum Alloy

The effects of two-stage aging and retrogression and reaging heat treatment on the fracture toughness and stress corrosion cracking resistance of 7475 alloy were studied. The fracture toughness, conductivity and strength of samples of nine groups under duplex aging conditions and three retrogression and reaging heat treatments were also measured. Incorporating the microstructure and property, we found that when the condition of the first order aging kept identical, the fracture toughness and stress corrosion cracking resistance increase with aging time and the second aging temperature. The optimal treatment conditions are （ 115℃×7h ＋ 185 ℃×13h） among all tested two-stage aging treatments. Although the 7475 alloy treated by RRA method shows the highest strength and its stress corrosion cracking resistance after twenty minutes retrogression can also reach the same level as those by the optimal treatment of （115℃×7h＋ 185℃×13h ）, the fracture toughness is even low.