Sub-micron fracture mechanism in silica-based glass activated by permanent densification from high-strain loading

Journal Article · Tue Apr 26 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2016.04.029· OSTI ID:1250403

Wereszczak, Andrew A. ^[1]; Waters, Shirley B. ^[1]; Parten, Randy J. ^[1]; Pye, L. David ^[2]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
2. The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred Univ., Little Falls, NY (United States)

Several silica-based glasses were fractured at high strain energy via drop-weight testing on small specimens. A cylindrical specimen geometry was chosen to promote initially simple, axisymmetric, and uniform compressive loading. The imposed uniaxial compressive strain at impact was sufficiently high to qualitatively cause permanent densification. Produced fragments were collected for postmortem and a fraction of them, for all the silica-based glasses, consistently had distinct sub-micron-sized fractures (~ 300–1000 nm), designated here as “microkernels”, on their surfaces. They would most often appear as a sub-micron pore on the fragment - apparently if the microkernel had popped out as a consequence of the local crack plane running through it, tensile-strain release, and the associated formation of the fragment it was on. No fractographic evidence was found to show the microkernels were associated with local failure initiation. However, their positioning and habit sometimes suggested they were associated with localized crack branching and that they could have influenced secondary fracturing that occurred during overall crushing and comminution and associated fragment size and shape creation. Furthermore, the size range of these microkernels is much too small to affect structural flexure strength of these glasses for most applications but are of a size and concentration that may affect their ballistic, shock, crush, and comminution responses when permanent densification is concomitantly occurring.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725; NFE-10-03121
• OSTI ID: 1250403
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1467160
• Journal Information: Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Vol. 443; ISSN 0022-3093
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
silica-based glasses
high-strain-energy fracture
densification
fragmentation
microkernels