International Max Planck Research School for Advanced Materials st Summer School in Stuttgart 1

Crack-Tip Plasticity and Fracture Toughness

Alexander Hartmaier

Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Stuttgart

Overview

Short phenomenology of fracture Modeling plastic zones with discrete dislocations Dislocation nucleation at crack tips Identifying dominant deformation mechanisms Theoretical description of crack-tip plasticity

Overview

Short phenomenology of fracture Modeling plastic zones with discrete dislocations Dislocation nucleation at crack tips Identifying dominant deformation mechanisms Theoretical description of crack-tip plasticity

Mechanical testing
Standard tensile tests Fracture tests

tensile test with homogeneous specimen

homogeneous plasticity necking (slip localization) failure by tearing

3-pt-bending with pre-notched specimen

conned process zone (yielding) stress concentration at crack tip failure by cleavage or general yielding

global behavior

local behavior, sensitivity to aws

Fracture and process zones

(Aldinger, 1999)

Process zone as toughening mechanism for ceramics Needle-like microstructure in Si3N4 Crack has to do additional work on its path

Fracture and process zones

Toughening of brittle Cr by Cu inclusions Crack has to deform Cu particle and to re-nucleate afterwards

(Flaig, 1994)

Fracture and process zones

(Bidlingmaier, Wanner, Clemens, Kck; 1994)

Fracture and process zones

Large-Scale molecular dynamics simulation for copper

(Abraham, Walkup, Gao, Duchaineau, Diaz De La Rubia, Seager; 2002)

Overview

Short phenomenology of fracture Modeling plastic zones with discrete dislocations Dislocation nucleation at crack tips Identifying dominant deformation mechanisms Theoretical description of crack-tip plasticity

Discrete Dislocation model

elasticity straight interaction of
dislocations in innite medium with semi-innite crack (Lin & Thomson, 1986)

materials science
dislocation mobility nucleation criterion failure criterion

numerics of dynamical evolution

dislocation population

Discrete Dislocation model

elasticity straight dislocations interaction of
in innite medium with semiinnite crack (Lin & Thomson, 1986)

fdis = fcrack (ri ) + fimage (ri ) +

i=j

(i)

finter (ri rj )

Kb fcrack (ri ) = f () 2ri b fimage (ri ) = g() ri b ri rj

finter (ri rj ) = O

Discrete Dislocation model

(i) vdis

= v0

(i) fdis

m(T )

0 b

Q exp kT

m(T ) = + T

materials science
dislocation mobility: thermally
activated, viscous motion (tungsten: Schadler, 1964)

fdis (rsrc ) > 0

nucleation criterion: homogenous nucleation at xed source position (renements: Roberts, 1996) shielding of sharp crack tip (Lin & Thomson, 1986)

ktip

b =K 1

failure criterion: dislocation

f
i 1/2 ri , i

ktip > kcrit

= 2MPa m

Discrete Dislocation model

numerics of dynamical evolution

dislocation population constant temperature T, constant loading rate K introduction of superdislocations to save computing time

Model vs. Reality

model captures qualitative dependence on temperature and loading rate correct order of magnitude for fracture toughness (!)

experimental work: 3-pt-bending tests on tungsten single crystals, {110}<1-10> crack system (Gumbsch, Riedle, Hartmaier, Fischmeister; 1998)

Overview

Short phenomenology of fracture Modeling plastic zones with discrete dislocations Dislocation nucleation at crack tips Identifying dominant deformation mechanisms Theoretical description of crack-tip plasticity

Dislocation nucleation

homogeneous nucleation overestimates ductility at low temperatures dislocation nucleation in brittle materials occurs at discrete sites (Roberts, Booth, Hirsch, 1994; Hsia, Gao, Xin, 2001; Zhou, Thomson, 1991; Xu, Argon, Ortiz, 1997)

(Gumbsch, Riedle, Hartmaier, Fischmeister; 1998)

Dislocation nucleation

dislocation nucleation at jogs produces inefcient dislocations for shielding cross-slip mechanisms can transform jogging into blunting dislocations (Hartmaier, 2000; Narita, Takahara, Higashida; 2002)

Dislocation nucleation

Dislocation nucleation

Shielding of complete crack tip only after coalescence of half loops Translation into 2D model: 1. nucleate dislocation lines at source position r 2. shielding taken into account after motion over additional (incubation) distance = ()

(Roberts, 1996)

Dislocation nucleation

results from rened nucleation model better agreement with experiments in low temperature regime

fracture toughness at low temperatures is nucleation limited

Overview

Short phenomenology of fracture Modeling plastic zones with discrete dislocations Dislocation nucleation at crack tips Identifying dominant deformation mechanisms Theoretical description of crack-tip plasticity

Predeformation experiments
experimental work: predeformation to 5% plastic strain prior to crack initiation facilitates dislocation nucleation obstructs dislocation motion

(Gumbsch, Riedle, Hartmaier, Fischmeister; 1998)

Deformation mechanisms

N = 90 N = 239 N = 466

number of dislocations proportional to size of inverse pile-up also found for equilibrium dislocation congurations (Brede, Haasen, 1988) velocity of leading dislocation is rate limiting factor

Deformation mechanisms

low temperatures: deformation is nucleation limited (except

predeformed material)

intermediate temperatures: deformation is mobility

controlled (saturation in nucleation sites)

high temperatures: transition to ductility not only due to

shielding (crack-tip blunting must be taken into account, dislocation multiplication)

Overview

Short phenomenology of fracture Modeling plastic zones with discrete dislocations Dislocation nucleation at crack tips Identifying dominant deformation mechanisms Theoretical description of crack-tip plasticity

Force balance at crack tip

Nd

G = gt +
j=1

gd (j)

Total force on defects = force on crack tip + force on dislocations

K (1 ) G= E

ktip (1 ) gt = E

Nd

gd
j=1

(j)

=C

ktip kc

Nq

Identication with energy release rate (Weertman, Lin, Thomson, 1983)

Result of numerical simulations; C, s, q only dependent on elastic constants and Burgers vector

Force balance at crack tip

Kc =
2 kc + CN q

Fracture toughness is only a function of number of dislocations

Scaling relation
1 N K
Kc

vdis
K=0

(1)

dK

1. number of dislocations is only a function of velocity of leading dislocation 2. Arrhenius relation between loading rate and temperature for all points of constant fracture toughness
1

A Q P (Kc ) = exp kT K

T2 =

k K1 1 ln + Q T1 K2

3. Scaling relation for points of constant fracture toughness

Scaling relation
Scaling relation is veried for simulation results (left, with constant m) and for experimental data (bottom)

Conclusions
Modeling:

Discrete Dislocation Dynamics needs phenomenological input, but yields information on deformation mechanisms. DDD paves way to predictive descriptions of crack-tip plasticity and fracture toughness.

Fracture:
Irreversible processes at stress concentrations determine toughness of a material Dislocation nucleation is necessary condition for plastic relaxation, but in general not rate limiting Crack-tip plasticity can be described as thermally activated process with same characteristics as dislocation mobility

References