A Basic Study of Fissuring in Glass by Thermal Shock (Measurement of Fissure Propagation Velocity)

Abstract

The destructive phenomenon of brittle and fatigue fracture is becoming extremely important in the problem of structures' safety. In this paper, to elucidate the fracture mechanism, it is tested experimentally to explicate the destructive phenomenon of the fractured section and fissure progression occurring due to thermal shock in typical brittle glass materials. Specifically, by the application of the newly developed method of applying electric resistance-vacuum evaporated thin films, it became possible to accurately measure the velocity of fissure propagation and also each block of glass and ceramics. As a result, the maximum velocity of fissure propagation for the glass was approximately 1 500-1 700 m/s and its average velocity was 650 m/s. It is also found that the velocity of fissure propagation in the glass by thermal shock under the condition of adding load by four-points bending is almost approximatrely 3 000 m/s. © 1993, The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. All rights reserved.