Experiments and simulations of directionally dependent fracture along copper/sapphire interfaces
- Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States). Div. of Engineering and Applied Sciences
To test the hypothesis that the brittleness and ductility of crystalline materials are controlled by a competition between dislocation nucleation and cleavage failure at a crack tip, Rice et al. designed a four-point bend copper/sapphire bicrystal which has two cracks that propagate along the interface in opposing directions. They predicted, on the basis of the Rice-Thomson model, that the specimen would exhibit a directionally dependent fracture behavior, that is, one crack would propagate more readily than the other. Beltz and Wang carried out the experiments and reported that the specimen exhibits a directionally dependent fracture behavior in accordance with the predictions. In the present work, these experiments are repeated independently and it is shown that the orientation of the experimentally observed directionally dependent behavior is opposite that of the predicted orientation. Furthermore, the authors show that Beltz and Wang incorrectly measured the orientation of the directional dependence in their experimental results. A correct interpretation of their results is consistent with the present work. Taking advantage of the transparent sapphire, the normal crack opening displacement (NCOD) profile of both cracks is measured with optical interferometry. The measurements show that, away from the very tip of the crack, the NCOD takes the form of a constant angle, irrespective of load level. The opening angle of the apparently brittle crack is smaller than that of the apparently ductile crack. Complementary measurements of the very tip of the crack with Atomic Force Microscopy show that the near-tip crack opening profiles of the brittle and ductile cracks differ significantly. The specimen is analyzed with the Finite Element Method, taking into account the elastic and plastic properties of the single crystal constituents. Since the very essence of the observed phenomenon is one of crack growth, the two cracks are simulated as they grow quasistatically along the interface. The asymptotic deformation fields, characteristic of single crystals, of the growing interfacial cracks are identified. The stress and strain fields, as well as the NCOD, are calculated. The authors present a plausible explanation of the directional dependence of fracture on the basis of the continuum plastic fields surrounding the quasistatically growing cracks.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Office of Naval Research, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 364080
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-981104--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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