Additional fracture test methods.

In addition to transition temperature determinations from charpy data, related critical

temperatures may be obtained from other laboratory samples, such as the drop weight
and Robertson crack arrest test procedures. The drop weight sample (fig. 9.7 consists
of a flat plate, one surface of which contains a notched bead of brittle weld bead face
down, and impacted with a falling weight. !ince a crack can begin to run at the base of
the brittle weld bead notch with "ery little energy re#uirement, the critical factor is
whether the base plate can withstand this ad"ancing crack and not break. According to
A!T$ !tandard %&'(, the nil ductility temperature ()*T is defined as that
temperature below which the plate breaks (fig 9.7.a but abo"e which it does not (fig.
9.7.b. (The specimen is considered to be broke if a crack grows to one or both edges
on the tension surface. +racking on the compression side is not re#uired to establish
the break condition.. Therefore, )*T reflects a go, no go condition associated with a
negligible le"el of ductility.
Although some success has been achie"ed by using this diagram for low strength steel
applications, certain inherent deficiencies should be pointed out. ,irst, it is not
altogether clear which stress, local, or gross section should be used. Also, the ,A*
treats all steels of the same strength le"el alike and ignores the possibility of toughness
differences from one steel grade to another. The allowable flaw si-e to be tolerated by
a structure is strongly dependent on the toughness of the material and a reasonable
estimate of the stress le"el. if the latter #uantities are not defined, the ,A* cannot
pro"ide "ery reliable #uantitati"e information. )e"ertheless, these diagrams do
represent an attempt to bridge the differences between the transition temperature and
fracture mechanics philosophies of fracture control design.
The Robertson sample is designed to measure a crack arrest condition. As seen in fig.
99, this sample contains a saw cut at one side of the plate and is sub/ected to a
thermal gradient across the plate width such that the starter notch is at the lowest
temperature, while the right side of the plate is considerably warmer. After a uniform
load is applied normal to the starter crack plane, the plate is impacted on the cold side,
causing an unstable crack to grow from the cold starter notch root. The crack will run
across the plate until it encounters a plate temperature at which the material offers too
much resistance to further crack growth. this is defined as the crack arrest temperature
(+AT. ,rom such tests, it has been shown that +AT depends on the material, the
magnitude of the applied stress, and the specimen thickness. As a final not, the +AT,
when determined o"er a range of stress le"els, pro"ides the information for the
construction of the lower cur"e is the ,A* shown in fig. 9.(.
Additional specimens and test methods ha"e been de"eloped to e"aluate the
toughness response of engineering plastics. The i-od sample is a notched bar that is
fi0ed at one end and impacted on the unsupported section along the side of the bar
that contains the notch. )umerous studies ha"e shown that the i-od impact energy of
many plastics, usually defined by the energy absorbed per unit area of the net section,
possesses a ductile brittle transition response. ,igure 9.1' shows the charge in
transition temperature for 23+ with different notch radii. The large reduction in fracture
energy at a gi"en temperature with the presence of a notch is attributed to the high
strain rate at the notch root and the "irtual elimination of energy necessary to initiate a
crack in the sample. A comparison of the room temperature impact resistance for
se"eral polymers is gi"en in fig 9 and re"eals the strong notch sensiti"ity of these
materials. Two other impact test methods for engineering plastics are described by the
drop weight and tensile impact test procedures. The drop weight method measures the
energy to initiate fracture in an unnotched sheet of material. a disk shaped sample is
supported hori-ontally by a steel ring and struck with different weights that are dropped
from a gi"en height. A mean failure energy is then defined on a statistical basis, which
corresponds to a 4'5 failure rate of the disks. The high speed tensile impact method
makes use of a small tensile specimen that is clamped to a pendulum hammer at one
end and attached to a striker plate at the other. The pendulum is released and drops
with the attached sample trailing behind. 6hen the striker plate impacts a rigidly
mounted stationary an"il, the sample e0periences rapid straining in tension to failure.
The fracture energy is determined from the differences in pendulum height before and
after its release. Impact energies for many engineering plastics are gi"en in the
moderns plastics encyclopedia.
$a/or "ariables affecting en"ironment assisted cracking.
The degree to which materials are sub/ect to %A+ depends on a number of factors,
including alloy chemistry and thermo mechanical treatment, the en"ironment itself,
temperature, and pressure (for the case of gaseous atmospheres. The effect of these
important "ariables on the cracking process will now be considered.
Alloy chemistry and thermomechanical treatment.
As one might e0pect, many studies ha"e been conducted to e0amine the relati"e %A+
propensity of different families of allows and specific alloys thermomechanically treated
to different specifications. ,or e0ample, the log plot for se"eral high strength aluminum
alloys e0posed to alternate immersion in a )a+l solution re"eals the alloy to be
markedly inferior relati"e to the response of the other alloys. ,or e0ample, stage II
cracking in the 7'79 alloy occurs at a rate 1''' times greater than in the alloy and
corresponds to a stage II growtn rate of greater than 7 cm in 1 h. )o engineering
component would be e0pected to resist final failure for long at that growth rate. *uring
the past 1' years, many in"estigations ha"e been conducted to impro"e the %A+
resistance of these materials. These studies indicate that o"eraging is the most
effecti"e way to accomplish this ob/ecti"e. +oincidentally, toughness is impro"ed while
strength decreases as a result of the o"eraging process. The effect of o"eraging
(denoted by the T7 temper designation on 7' and 71 aluminum alloys is shown in fig.
11. Although stage I in the 7' alloy is shifted markedly to higher 8 le"els, reflectiong a
sharp increase in 8, the growth rates associated with stage II cracking remain relati"ely
unchanged. +onse#uently, the ma/or problem of "ery high stage II cracking rates in this
material remains e"en after o"eraging. 9y contrast, preliminary data for the 71 alloy
show a marked decrease in stage II crack growth rate with increasing aging time, while
stage I cracking is shifted to a much lesser e0tent. )ote the dramatic si0 order of
magnitude difference in stage II crack growth rates between these two alloys in the
o"eraged condition. :pon reflection, it would be most desirable to ha"e the o"eraging
treatment effect a simultaneous lowering of the stage II cracking rate and a
displacement of the stage I regime to higher k le"els. This may pro"e to be the case in
other alloy systems.
In general, 8 "alues tend to be greater in materials possessing higher k le"els and
lower yield strength. ,or e0ample, we see from fig. &1 that k "alues decrease rapidly
with increasing yield strength in a ;7;' steel. <owe"er, !peidel has noted e0ceptions
to this rule for the case of aluminum alloys. If the relati"e degree of susceptibility to
en"ironment assisted cracking is defined by the ratio k the generally obser"ed trend is
for k to decrease with increasing alloy strength. That is k "alues drop faster than k
"alues with increasing strength.
$ost often, hydrogen and stress corrosion cracks follow an intergranular path in the
important high strength steel, titanium, and aluminum alloys. This is particularly true for
aluminum alloys, which suffer stress corrosion cracking almost e0clusi"ely along grain
boundary paths. +onse#uently, en"ironment assisted cracking in wrought alloys is
usually of greater concern in the short trans"erse direction than in other orientations.
As such, %A+ orientation sensiti"ity parallels k orientation dependence as described in
section 1'.&