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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Mechanism of mechanical fatigue of fused silica. Progress report, July 1-December 31, 1985

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6345543

The mechanical strength of glass is strongly influenced by crack geometry. In particular, the mechanism of mechanical fatigue of glasses is closely related to crack tip geometry and a different mechanism has to be invoked depending upon whether the crack tip is sharp or blunt; a sharp tip crack can simply propagate, but a blunt tip crack has to be sharpened before it can propagate. In order to investigate the possibility of a blunt crack tip, the following two experiments were conducted: (1) strengthening upon annealing of glasses with extended crack; and (2) kinetics of strength increase upon annealing in various atmospheres. From the results of these experiments, it was shown that the crack tip of glass becomes blunt upon annealing. The results suggest that the mechanical fatigue of some glasses involves crack initiation as well as crack growth.

Research Organization:
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (USA). Dept. of Materials Engineering
DOE Contract Number:
FG02-85ER45217
OSTI ID:
6345543
Report Number(s):
DOE/ER/45217-1; ON: DE86005503
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English