On the role of surface stress in environment-assisted fracture

Environment effects in plasticity and fracture of metals, well studied for several decades, still pose many unanswered questions. A micro-mechanics explanation of how dislocation activity is influenced by the material surface state, that can answer these questions, has been elusive. We build on a recently discovered effect in metal cutting – organic monolayer embrittlement (OME) – wherein metal surfaces are rendered brittle by long-chain organic adsorbates, to explore how material state variables influence surface plasticity and fracture. In particular, cutting experiments with Al containing Self Assembled Monolayers (SAMs), show that the OME is controlled by surface stress (f) induced by the adsorbates. This is contrary to many instances of environment-assisted fracture which are usually attributed to surface energy changes, and wherein f is largely ignored. Other contributions include (a) a cantilever technique to measure surface stress, (b) demonstration of strong effect of SAM molecule chain length on f, (c) characterization of how dislocation activity at crack-tips is affected by adsorbate-induced f, and (d) large improvements in machining processes enabled by controlled environment-assisted fracture. We make the case that surface stress, due to adsorbates, likely influences all environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) phenomena, warranting a revisit of extant models of EAC.