In-service defects

(Service-induced Degradation in Materials)

 Exposure of Materials to Service Conditions

Temperature Stress
Radiation Environment

Degradation Mechanisms in Materials

Corrosion, Creep, Fatigue, Embrittlement

Degradation in Materials

Deterioration in Mechanical Properties

Crack Initiation and Propagation

Changes in Microstructures

Non- Destructive Testing for Evaluation of Microstructural

Changes and Detection of Cracks

Mechanisms of degradation of materials/components in service

Failures

Due to forging, hardening, tempering, welding, etc.

Due to overload, wear, corrosion and stress-corrosion, creep,

brittle fracture and metal fatigue.

Due to improper design. It is necessary to consider whether

sharp corners or high-stress areas exist in the design, has
sufficient safety stress factor been considered and whether the
material selected is suitable for particular application.
 Tensile testing of materials

Tensile Stress-Strain Curve of a ductile material

Tensile
Specimen
Material behaviour under pulling
Elastic : Hooke’s law
Plastic: Ludwick relation
Different Materials
 Hall-Petch Relation where d is
the grain size

Yield strength is more if grain size

is small or when irradiated
Ductile fracture
Occurrence of fracture by appreciable gross
plastic deformation and expenditure of
considerable energy
Cup and cone fracture (microvoid coalesence in
the fracture surface)
Brittle fracture
Rapid crack growth without any appreciable •A-brittle fracture
gross plastic deformation and with less •B-chisel -ductile
expenditure of energy as compared to ductile •C-point-ductile
fracture. •D-dimple-ductile

Fracture Mode in
Tensile Specimen

Dimples as seen in Scanning

Electron Microscopy : x12000
 Ductile vs. Brittle Fracture

Strength
BF
DF
σ
T.T
Temperature

Low temperature, High loading rate and Triaxial stresses (Notch or Crack)

Increase flow stress

Increase brittle fracture
 Fracture Toughness

In case of a cracked body under the application of

load, stress is not a sufficient parameter to know
the crack growth behaviour. Use of stress
intensity factor (K).

In pulling (tensile) type loading, K is called Mode

one stress intensity factor or KI

Until K reaches a critical value, crack propagates

in a stable manner.

In tensile test of smooth specimens, when load

reaches maximum, material starts to fail. Similarly
in specimens with cracks, when K value exceeds
a limit (KIC), the crack propagates instantly to
failure.

KIC is critical fracture toughness of materials

Allowable flaw size relates to fracture toughness of materials

Stress

ac Flaw Size

KIC = σc x (П ac)1/2

Fracture toughness is a material property

NDT to detect flaws size les than critical size

Relation between fracture toughness and
allowable stress and crack size
 Flaws in Materials
At no stage during the service life of a component, there is
any flaw of the order of ac

Allowable flaw size (< ac) with adequate safety margin

Role of NDT is to detect flaw of sizes (< ac)

Surface flaw more severe as compared to sub-surface flaw

because of higher stress intensity associated with it

Code provides guidelines on classification of flaws into

surface or sub-surface
 Creep

Creep is a time-dependent deformation

of a material under an applied stress
that is below its yield strength. It most
often occurs at elevated temperature,
but some materials creep at room
temperature.

Creep in service is usually affected by

changing conditions of loading and
temperature. 

Very low
Strain rate
 Similar trend when
increase the
temperature

Effect of stress on creep

curves at constant
temperature

Creep Cavities and cracks in grain boundaries

Intergranular fracture
 Fatigue: failure of materials under cyclic loading

When metal parts are subjected to repeated loading and unloading over
prolonged periods they may fail at stresses far below their yield strength with
no sign of plastic deformation. This is called a fatigue failure. When designing
machine parts that are subject to vibration or cyclic loads, fatigue strength
may be more important than ultimate tensile or yield strength.

Fatigue Strength - The stress at which failure occurs for a given number of
cycles.

The greater the applied stress, the shorter the life.

Damage is cumulative.

Fatigue life is influenced by: Temperature, Surface finish, Environment,

Residual stresses, etc.

Imperfections in the material such as corrosion pits, inclusions,

microstructural inhomogeneties, etc. may initiate the fatigue cracking which
propagate under cyclic loading.
Fatigue limit, or endurance limit, is the maximum load that can be applied an
infinite number of times without causing failure. The number of cycles
leading to fracture at a given stress is often referred to as the fatigue
strength or endurance.

Beach marks in
the fatigue
fracture surface

Typical fatigue curves for

ferrous and non-ferrous metals

Scanning electron microscopic

picture depicting striations in
fracture surface (similar to line
markings)
Transgranular fracture-
 Types of Fatigue Loading (High Cycle Fatigue)
Fatigue: failure of materials under cyclic loading

    
max min
stress range
 alternating  min
a  stress ratio R
2 component  max
 max   min mean
m 
2 component
  
Typical waveforms for strain
controlled low cycle fatigue (LCF)
testing

ASTM E 606

Design standards for creep,

fatigue etc.: RCC-MR, ASME
 Schematic representation of cyclic stress response
under total axial strain control LCF testing

Hardening or softening depends upon the material and its current state
Usually harder materials will soften and vice versa
Fatigue life usually decreases with increase in temperature
At high temperatures, fatigue life usually decreases with decrease in
strain rate
Environment plays a dominant role
Other mechanisms acting with fatigue may change the crack propagation
to completely intergranular in nature
 Low Cycle Fatigue High Cycle Fatigue
Loading above the yield strength Loading below the yield strength of the
of the material material

Usually strain controlled tests Usually stress controlled tests

Failure below 104 cycles Failure above 104 cycles

Stage 2 is dominant (crack) Stage I is dominant

Ductile materials High strength materials/surface

Failure modes under creep-fatigue interaction testing
 Impact Testing

Low temperature, high rate, notched specimen

The method by which Izod (a type of specimen) Impact values are

measured
 Sketch showing method of loading in Charpy and
Izod impact tests

Type of impact test curves – mainly a problem in bcc alloys (ferritic)

Not a problem for austenitic stainless steels such as 316L(N) SS
 Corrosion
Deterioration of a material as it reacts with its environment. Corrosion results in
reducing load carrying capability of materials and leads to failure.
The corrosion process is usually electrochemical in nature
Iron is a moderately active metal and corrodes readily in the presence of
water.
Corrosion Types

Commonly classified based on the appearance of the corroded material

Uniform or General Corrosion: distributed more or less uniformly over a
surface.

Localized Corrosion (confined to small area)

Pitting: confined to small areas and take the form of cavities on a
surface
Crevice: corrosion occurring at locations where easy access to the
bulk environment is prevented, such as the mating surfaces of two
components
Galvanic
Corrosion associated primarily with the electrical coupling of materials
with significantly different electrochemical potentials.

Erosion Corrosion

Corrosion reaction accelerated by the relative movement of a corrosive

fluid and a metal surface.

Fretting Corrosion

Damage at the interface of two contacting surfaces under load. The

damage is accelerated by movement at the interface that mechanically
abraded the surface and exposes fresh material to corrosive attack.
Environmental Cracking

Brittle fracture of a normally ductile material that occurs partially due to

the corrosive effect of an environment

Corrosion fatigue

Fatigue cracking due to combined action fatigue load under corrosive

environment

Liquid metal cracking

Cracking caused by contact with a liquid metal.

Stress corrosion cracking

Occurs due to combined action of corrosion and a residual or applied

tensile stress.
Different Forms of Corrosion
Wear

Undesired removal of material from contacting surfaces by mechanical action.

Excessive wear can be caused by continuous overload, but wear is ordinarily a

slow process that is related to the friction between two surfaces. Rapid wear can
often be attributed to lack of lubrication or the improper selection of material for
the wear surface.

Wear is one of the most frequent causes of failure. We find normal wear in
machine tooling such as carbide and high speed tools that wear and have to be
replaced or resharpened. Parts of automobiles ultimately wear until an overhaul
is required. Machines are regularly inspected for worn parts, which when
found are replaced; this is called preventive maintenance.

Rapid wear can occur if the load distribution is concentrated in a small area
because of the part design or shape. This can be altered by redesign to offer
more wear surface. Speeds that are too high can increase friction considerably
and cause rapid wear.
Different types of wear

Abrasive wear, erosive wear, corrosive wear and surface

fatigue.

Abrasive wear - small particles are torn off the surfaces of the metal, creating
friction.

Erosive wear – occurs in areas that are subjected to a flow of particles or gases
that impinge on the metal at high velocities.

Corrosive wear – takes place as a result of an acid, caustic, or other corrosive

medium in contact with metal parts. When lubricants become contaminated with
corrosive materials, pitting can occur in such areas as machine bearings.

Surface fatigue - often found on roll or ball bearing or sleeve bearings where
excessive side thrust has been applied to the bearing. It is seen as a fine crack
or as small pieces falling out of the surface.
Overload

Overload failures are usually attributed to faulty design, extra loads

applied, or an unforeseen machine movement. Shock loads or loads
applied above the design limit are quite often the cause of the
breakdown of machinery.

Inadequate design can sometimes play a part in overload failures.

Improper material selection in the design of the part or improper heat

treatment can cause some failures when overload is a factor.

Two modes or ways in which metals can fracture under single or

monotonic loads.

Shear and cleavage

Hydrogen damage

Degradation in materials due to interaction with hydrogen

Hydrogen may be picked up by metals during melting, casting,
shaping (forging etc.) and fabrication. They are also exposed to
hydrogen during their service life.

Hydride embrittlement
Formation of blisters
Hydride embrittlement

Absorption of hydrogen causes severe embrittlement In hydride

forming metals like titanium, zirconium and vanadium. Beyond a certain
limit of hydrogen concentration, brittle hydrides are formed and cause
severe embrittlement. This is encouraged by increased strain rates,
decreased temperature and by the presence of notches in the material.

Blistering

Continued absorption of hydrogen leading to blister formation, growth

and eventual bursting of the blister. Such hydrogen induced blister
cracking is observed in steels, aluminium alloys, titanium alloys and
nuclear structural materials.
The effects of radiation on the mechanical properties include changes to
strength and ductility. In general, radiation tends to destroy the well-defined
lattice structure of crystalline materials. These imperfections ultimately alter
the basic material properties such as hardness, ductility, etc.

The radiation damage is primarily due to point defects being created in the
crystalline structure. As an example, if a fast neutron causes displacement
damage, then the ordered structure of the material is weakened and the
material properties change due to the irregularities and vacancies.

Microstructural change then affects macroscopic properties.

The dislocations inhibit slip processes, that is, more energy is required to
initiate slipping. Consequently, the material resistance to penetration
(hardness) and the stress required to initiate failure (strength) increase, but
there is a concomitant decrease in the energy needed for failure by fracture
(toughness) and permanent strain (ductility).
Metals

Neutron damage to metals is more pronounced for higher energy

neutrons.

Under fast neutron irradiation, all steels experience radiation-induced

hardening and embrittlement.

Steels bombarded by fast neutrons also experience swelling (volume

increase) and radiation-induced creep.

Typically, radiation causes the hardness and strength to increase with

a concurrent decrease in the ductility and toughness.