MSE 440

Homework #8 due 10/24/14

1. An Al2O3 specimen is being pulled in tension. The specimen contains flaws having a size
of 100 m. If the surface energy of Al2O3 is 0.8 J/m2, what is the fracture stress? Use
Griffiths criterion. E = 380 GPa
2. A microalloyed steel, quenched and tempered at 250C, has a yield strength (y) of 1,750
MPa and a plane-strain fracture toughness KIc of 43.50 MPa m1/2. What is the largest
disk-type inclusion, oriented most unfavorably, that can be tolerated in this steel at an
applied stress of 0.5y?
3. Consider a maraging steel plate of thickness (B) 3 mm. Two specimens of width (W)
equal to 50 mm and 5 mm were taken out of this plate. What is the largest through-thethickness crack that can be tolerated in the two cases at an applied stress of = 0.6y,
where y (yield stress) = 2.5 GPa? The plane-strain fracture toughness KIc of the steel is
70 MPa m1/2. What are the critical dimensions in the case of a single-edge notch
specimen?
4. The size of the plastic zone at the crack tip in the general plane-strain case is given by
K l2

ry =
cos 2 4 1 (1 ) 3cos 2
2
2 y
2
2
a. Determine the radius of the plastic zone in the direction of the crack.
b. Determine the angle at which the plastic zone is the largest. You may assume plane
stress conditions to simplify this slightly.
c. Make plots of the size of the plastic zone as a function of for = 0, = 0.33,
=0.5 Comment on the size and form of the zone in the three cases.
5. A series of survivability tests were performed on a particular ceramic material and the
following data were obtained:
Applied
Probability
Stress (Pa) of Survival
200
0.999
250
0.994
300
0.971
350
0.889
400
0.679
450
0.333
500
0.06
550
1.40E-03
600
6.20E-07
a. Plot this data according to a Weibull distribution curve and find the Weibull
modulus, m and 0. (Hint, use the form assuming V=V0)
b. If you retest a specimen at 350Pa but triple the sample volume, what will be the
expected probability of survival?
6. Transformation toughening, a process zone forming mechanism, is largely responsible for
the toughness of partially stabilized zirconia, which has traditionally been used in a wide
range of applications from dental implants to ceramic bearings. This mechanism
involves the transformation of a metastable tetragonal phase into the equilibrium
monoclinic phase. The data below is from an early paper by T.K. Gupta, F.F. Lange and
J.H. Bechtold in which the authors demonstrated that if a certain fraction of this

jakrogst@illinois.edu

Fall 2014

MSE 440

Homework #8 due 10/24/14

metastable tetragonal phase could not be maintained in the ceramic, the toughness was
substantially reduced. Explain why. (Hint, use the equation for process zone toughening
with nonlinear deforming particles)
% Tetragonal

% Tetragonal ZrO 2
lOO 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20
I

700

o3
L.

500

57) --I

400

~" Exp. Data

600
v

lO

0
E

._-=

---

Exp. Data

0
OJ

0.2
I

10
I

Statistically Fitted
Data

0.4

0.1

I0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 10
% Monoclinic

Statistically Fitted
Data

1O0

Figure 4 Grain size versus tetragonal phase content

ZrO2 ceramics.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
% (r

ZrO 2

Figure 2 Strength versus tetragonal phase content in

ZrO 2 ceramics.

Several important observations can be made

from the data presented in Fig. 2. First, when the
ZrO2 specimens contain a large amount of monoclinic phase ( ~ 9 0 % ) , the strength is very poor
( < 100 MPa). Second, as the metastable tetragonal
content is increased to ~ 3 0 % , there is a rapid
increase in strength. Finally, a constant high
strength (600 to 700 MPa) is maintained when the
apparent tetragonal content is between 30 and
100%.
A network of surface cracks was observed in
materials containing < 3 0 % of the tetragonal
phase. The formation o f cracks during the cooling
o f unstabilized ZrO2 ceramics is usually attributed
to the tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation.

0.5

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20

0.3
.E

300
200

0.6

4.4. M i c r o s t r u c t u r a l o b s e r v a t i o n s
As illustrated by the two micrographs in Fig.
the fracture surface topography shows that t
grains are equiaxed and that fracture is int
granular regardless of the tetragonal phase conte
The grain size o f all the materials examined w
< 1/am. During densification, the average grain s
increased from ~0.2/~m for materials with
density of 4.0 g c m -3 to ~ 0.25 #m for densities
5 . 6 g c m -3 (see Fig. 1). Once a density of 5.
cm -3 was achieved, grain size remained nea
constant to a tetragonal content of ~ 30%. Sign
cant grain growth occurred only when the sinteri
conditions led to materials containing ~<30%
the tetragonal phase, as illustrated in Fig. 4.
The strength o f dense materials is plotted a
function of grain size in Fig. 5, illustrating tha
critical grain size exists in order ( ~ 0 . 3 2 # m )
obtain a high strength material. Materials with
grain size > 0.32/am contained substantial amoun

Fall 2014
Figure 3 jakrogst@illinois.edu
Scanning electron micrograph of PSZ ceramics containing (a) 97% tetragonal
phase and (b) 13% tetrago
phase. The balance is the monoclinic phase in each case.

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