Quantitative Analysis of Fracture Toughness Using an In - situ SEM Loading Stage
손기선Kee Sun Sohn, 이성학Sung Hak Lee
Abstract
An in -situ observation of fracture behavior, together with direct measurement of fracture toughness, was adopted to verify microfracture mechanism of a high speed steel (HSS) roll material using a compact tension (CT) type loading stage inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The speciment used in the present study was a small and thin CT speciment which had a sharply machined notch and was grooved along its central region. The observation of fracture process indicated that the interfaces between hard primary carbide and matrix were separated first to form microcracks at low stress intensity factor levels. Then, the microoracks were easily propagated along the intercellular carbide networks, leading to relatively low fracture toughness. This in-situ SEM fracture technique was found useful for studying the microstructural aspects of fracture initiation and for correlating the microscopic fracture behavior with macroscopic fracture toughness of brittle materials.