An elastic-plastic-cracking model for finite element analysis of indentation cracking in brittle materials

An 'elastio-plastic-cracking' (EPC) constitutive model was developed and incorporated into the commercial explicit finite element package ABAQUS to analyze the fracture characteristics of brittle materials subjected to indentation loads. The analysis indicated that the EPC model can capture the development of median cracks during the loading phase and the development of lateral cracks during the unloading phase of the Vickers indentation cycle. The influence of material properties on induced damage zone characteristics was analyzed by defining a non-dimensional brittleness parameter. The model predictions of hardness as well as load-depth (P-h) relationship during an indentation cycle were found to agree well with the experimental trends presented elsewhere in the literature. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.