2: An introduction to the properties of

engineering materials

Lecture 4
Toughness
Creep resistance

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Outline of lecture

1. Toughness
• Why do we need to know?
• Brittle fracture and toughness
• Measures of toughness
• The Charpy impact test

2. Creep
• The creep phenonena
• Creep curves and steady-state creep
• Generalised creep law
• Creep at constant stress
• Creep at constant temperature

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1. Learning outcomes
At the end of this lecture you should be able to do the following:

1. Describe what is meant by toughness, be able to name two different measures of

this property, and explain how and why toughness is different from strength.
2. Identify which features of a stress strain curve most closely relate to toughness.
3. Describe how a Charpy impact test may be performed and be able to interpret the
results.
4. Recognise the range of toughness values which exist within the four main classes
of engineering material.

5. Define what is meant by creep and recognise when creep deformation will be
important.
6. Describe a creep strain versus time plot and be able to identify the different
regions.
7. Apply the generalised creep law to conditions of constant temperature and
constant stress, and be able to calculate the creep constants in these situations.

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2. Why is toughness important?

Toughness is the resistance to sudden, brittle fracture.

Where did the crack start?

• stress concentrations

• weld lines

• voids, other defects

Brittle fracture of an oil tanker: New York 1940

Adapted from Callister, Chapter 8)

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3. Toughness
• Toughness is the measure of the energy required to fracture a material.

• It is related to the area under a stress-strain curve in a tensile test but is NOT
related directly to Young’s modulus, strength or ductility!

• The appearance of the test specimen after a tensile test can give a clue as to
whether to failure was ductile or brittle.

Cup and cone fracture in aluminium Brittle fracture in mild steel

• High ductility may suggest high toughness, but alone it is not a guarantee.

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Toughness is different from strength!

• Toughness can be measured as the energy required to fracture a specimen.

• It can be expressed in the following ways:

– The energy required to fracture a test specimen.
– The energy required to create a unit area of fracture surface with the symbol
Gc and the units J/m2.
– The critical ‘Stress Intensity Factor’ with the symbol Kc and the units MPa√m.

• The first of these is the oldest method and uses a technique described shortly.

• The second and third are more accurate and rely on the concepts of Fracture
Mechanics (which you will learn about in later years).

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Toughness and the tensile test

Engineering small toughness (ceramics)

tensile large toughness (metals)
stress, s a
Adapted from Fig. 6.13, small toughness
Callister 7e. b
(unreinforced polymers)

c
Engineering tensile strain, e

• Energy absorbed is related to the area under a stress-strain curve.

• Area under curve (b) is greater than the area under curves (a or c) despite
curve (a) having the greater E, YS and UTS and despite curve (c) having the
greater ductility.

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The Charpy impact test

1. A bar of material (10 ×10×60 mm) is V-notched

along one side.

2. It is supported near its ends and is hit (opposite the

notch) with a pendulum to cause fracture.

3. The potential energy lost by the pendulum is

determined and recorded.
4. This energy is approximately equivalent to
the energy needed to fracture the specimen.
What are the energy losses??

h(q1)
5. The specimens can be cooled down, or
heated up before test, so that energy absorbed
can be plotted against the temperature.

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Charpy Impact energy vs. Temperature

• The test results may show the presence of a brittle-ductile transition.

• If this occurs, a transition temperature can be defined e.g. by the point of

inflection on the curve, but other definitions also exist.

Fracture surface appearance at

different temperatures (°C)

► This is a crude test , but it does

give a ranking of materials.
NOT A MATERIAL PROPERTY

Temp dependence for A283 steel, from Callister p225-6

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Add to notes: Effect of %C in steel on TT.

(From Materials Science for Engineers by J.F. Shackelford)

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4. Creep resistance
• Creep is defined as ‘an increase of strain with time at a constant stress.’

• It is a particular problem in polymers at room temperature and in metals at

elevated temperatures.

• Examples of components which must have superior creep resistance are

incandescent light bulb filaments and high pressure turbine blades (high
operating T).

Tungsten filament light bulb High pressure turbine blade

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• At room temperature (~300K), the deformation in most metals and ceramics depends upon
the level of stress but is independent of time, i.e.

e  f (s )
• However, at higher temperatures, there is additionally a time dependent strain, i.e.

• e  f (s , t ,T ) → creep

• The ratio of T/TM gives the approx sensitivity to creep, where T=operating temp,
TM=melting temp.

• How high does the temperature have to be for creep to be important?

– For polymers: T> 20°C
– for metals: T> (0.3 to 0.4) × TM (e.g. low C-Steel: T>260°C)
– for ceramics: T> (0.4 to 0.5) ×TM (Alumina Al2O3: T>640°C)
(T in Kelvin)

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Typical form of creep curve: complete diagram
s s

Fracture X
s 0 t
e
Steady-state creep (secondary)

Tertiary creep

eSS
Primary creep

Initial elastic strain

time, t
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Increasing stress or temperature (3> 2> 1) has same effect

T3 or s3

e T2 or s2

eSS  f (s 3 ,T )
T1 or s1

eSS  f (s1,T )
T<0.4Tm

time, t
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Generalised Creep Law
• Combining the stress and the temperature dependences:

ess  AeQ / RT s n
• Where A and n and R are constants
– n : creep exponent (or stress dependence)
– R : Universal Gas Constant = 8.31 J mol-1 K-1,
– Q : Activation Energy for creep (units J mol-1)
– T : Temperature (in Kelvin!).

• The three constants, A, n and Q characterise the creep performance of a

material.

• T dependence is described via an Arrhenius rate law

– applies because creep is a thermally activated process.

• Stress dependence is described via a power-law

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• Creep characterisation is usually carried out at either:

– Constant stress (approximately constant load), or

– Constant temperature.

• This enables the effects of stress or temperature to be isolated and hence

determined.

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Application 1– constant temperature case
• At constant temperature, plot of log eSS against log (stress) is linear, as

ess  Bs n

→ Power Law
Log creep
eSS
Slope n~3 to 8

low s tail, n~1

Log s

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Application 2– constant stress case (add plot to notes)
• At constant stress, a plot of ln eSS against (1/T) is linear, as:

ess  AeQ / RT s n  ess  Ce Q / RT

ln eSS
slope= -Q/R

1/T

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Example (2006 Part I exam, part question)
From constant stress laboratory tests an alloy is found to have a steady-state creep rate of 0.01
per hour at 800°C and 0.00055 per hour at 700°C. Calculate the activation energy for creep.
[The universal gas constant, R= 8.31 Jmol-1K-1]

Solution

ess  Ce Q / RT

ln ess   ln C 
Q
RT

Given: (strain rate 1)= 0.01 per hour at T1=1073K & (strain rate 2)= 0.0005 per hour at T2=973K

ln e1   ln C 
Q
.........................(1)  Jmol 1 K 1 
 ln e1  ln e2 
R
RT1 Q  1 
1 1  K 
  
ln e2   ln C 
Q
........................( 2)  T2 T1 
RT2

eliminate C Q  251.6 kJmol1

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