Flexural strength estimation in edge-damaged silicate glass plates by combined phase-field and visual analysis

The state-of-the-art fractographic guidelines for glasses and fine ceramics, ASTM C1678, are only applicable to limited fracture scenarios. This work outlines a new method to analyze fracture scenarios outside ASTM C1678 ' s scope. The proposed methodology consists of a two-step process: initially, optical images of the fracture surfaces are obtained, and visual analysis is used to highlight the characteristic fractographic features. Next, the selected features are automatically compared to a baseline set of virtual fracture patterns tailored to any relevant fracture scenarios obtained by numerical phase-field simulations. As validation, scenarios with fractures originating at the glass plates' edges for both sharp and chamfered corners were analyzed. Strength estimates within 6% of experimental results were achieved with the proposed method. In the future, this technique could be implemented to carry out fractographic analysis on brittle components of arbitrary shapes and loadings, hence substantially extending the application range and accuracy of fractographic methods.

Automated summary

This study proposes a new method to analyze fracture scenarios beyond the scope of ASTM C1678 by obtaining optical images of fracture surfaces and using visual analysis to highlight characteristic fractographic features. The selected features are then compared to a baseline set of virtual fracture patterns obtained by numerical phase-field simulations. Validation results show strength estimates within 6% of experimental results. This technique has the potential to significantly extend the application range and accuracy of fractographic methods for brittle components of arbitrary shapes and loadings.