FINITE-ELEMENT FRACTURE-ANALYSIS OF WC-CO ALLOYS

An elastic-plastic finite element analysis of the crack-tip field in a WC-Co alloy was performed to achieve a detailed understanding of duct ile fracture in the Go-phase. A model in which a Go-phase was embedded at the crack-tip in an elastic solid was employed, and Gurson's const itutive equations for a porous plastic material were used for the Co-p hase in order to take into account the nucleation and growth of microv oids. The effects of the shape of Co-phase and the stress state (plane stress or plane strain) on the distributions of hoop stress, hydrosta tic stress and microvoid volume fraction were discussed based on the c omputational results. The process of ductile fracture under constraint of deformation is also discussed in this paper. Copyright (C) 1996 El sevier Science Ltd