Glasses fracture toughness

Finally, the nature of the crystalline microstmcture, ie, crystal size and morphology and the textural relationship among the crystals and glass, is the key to many mechanical and optical properties, including transparency/opacity, strength and fracture toughness, and machinabiUty. These microstmctures can be quite complex and often are distinct from conventional ceramic microstmctures (6). 

Fig. 5. Interlaminar fracture toughness, for a number of thermosetting and thermoplastic composites (36,37). Open white bars represent glass-fiber composites shaded bars are for carbon fibers. The materials are A, polyester (unidirectional) B, vinyl ester (CSM = chopped strand mat) C, epoxy (R/BR1424) D, epoxy (T300/914) E, PPS F, PES and G, PEEK. To convert J/m to fdbf/in. multiply by 2100.

There are less exotic ways of increasing the strength of cement and concrete. One is to impregnate it with a polymer, which fills the pores and increases the fracture toughness a little. Another is by fibre reinforcement (Chapter 25). Steel-reinforced concrete is a sort of fibre-reinforced composite the reinforcement carries tensile loads and, if prestressed, keeps the concrete in compression. Cement can be reinforced with fine steel wire, or with glass fibres. But these refinements, though simple, greatly increase the cost and mean that they are only viable in special applications. Plain Portland cement is probably the world s cheapest and most successful material. 

The molecular weight of the polyacid affects the properties of glass polyalkenoate cements. Strength, fracture toughness, resistance to erosion and wear are all improved as the molecular weight of the polyadd is... 

Glass polyalkenoate (glass-ionomer) cement Fracture toughness... 

Flexural strength and fracture toughness are clinically more significant than compressive strength. The flexural strength of a glass-ionomer cement can reach 39 MPa after 24 hours (Pearson Atkinson, 1991) which is a much higher value than that attained by any dental silicate cement. 

Table 5.16. Strength and fracture toughness of glass polyalkenoate filling materials Seed Wilson, 1980 Prosser et al., 1984 Lloyd Mitchell, 1984 Goldman, 1985 Prosser, Powis Wilson, 1986 Lloyd Adamson, 1987)...

Fracture toughness values for glass polyalkenoate cement vary from 0-25 to 0-55 MN (Lloyd Mitchell, 1984 Goldman, 1985 Lloyd Adamson, 1987). The values are generally higher than those found for the traditional dental silicate cement but lower than those found for anterior composite resins (Lloyd Mitchell, 1984 Goldman, 1985) and much lower than those for posterior composite resins and dental amalgams (Lloyd Adamson, 1987). 

These low values for flexural strength and fracture toughness compared with the values for composite resins and dental amalgams make the glass-ionomer cement less suitable than these materials in high-stress situations. 

Hill, R. G., Wilson, A. D. Warrens, C. P. (1989). The influence of poly(acrylic acid) molecular weight on the fracture toughness of glass-ionomer cements. Journal of Materials Science, 24, 363-71. 

Tab. 12.3 Fracture toughness (K c) values of a conventional sol-gel glass, star gels and those obtained for human cortical bone by different authors.

The mechanical properties of the blend of silane/size and bulk epoxy matrix (at concentrations representing likely compositions found at the fiber-matrix interface region) also suggest that the interaction of size with epoxy produces an interphase which is completely different to the bulk matrix material (Al-Moussawi et al., 1993). The interphase material tends to have a lower glass transition temperature, Tg, higher modulus and tensile strength and lower fracture toughness than the bulk matrix. Fig. 5.4 (Drown et al., 1991) presents a plot of Tg versus the amount of... 

Ac can be approximated to Cf if Cm is neglected in brittle matrix composites (Harris, 1980). It is shown that Rd( contributes substantially to the total fracture toughness of glass fiber-polymer matrix composites (Harris et al, 1975 Kirk et al., 1978 Beaumont and Anstice, 1980 Munro and Lai, 1988). 

Fig. 6.8. Fracture toughness, K, of short glass fiber-thermoplastics injection molded composites as a function of weight fraction of fiber, fVr. (O) and (A) polyethylene terephthalate (PET) matrix ( ) and (A) polycarbonate (PC) matrix. Notches made transverse (O, ) and parallel (A, A) to the mold fill direction,...

Fig. 6.9. Normalized fracture toughness, (Kc - AKQ)/K. of short glass fiber-thermoplastics injection molded composites as a function of reinforcing effectiveness parameter, ft (O) polyetheretherketone (PEEK) matrix (K = 6.5 MPa m) (A) polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) matrix (K = 1.9 MPaym).

Fig. 6.12. Toughness maps depicting contours of predicted fracture toughness (solid lines in kJ/m ) for (a) glass-epoxy composites as a function of fiber strength, Uf, and frictional shear stress, tf and (b) Kevlar-cpoxy composites as a function of at and clastic modulus of fiber, Ef. The dashed line and arrows in (a) indicate a change in dominant failure mechanisms from post-debonding friction, Rif, to interfacial debonding, Sj, and the effect of moisture on the changes of Of and Tf, respectively. Bundle debond length...

Gershon B. and Marom G. (1975). Fracture toughness and mechanical properties of glass fiber-epoxy composites. J. Mater. Sci. 10, 1549-1556. 

Solar, M.A. and Belzunce, F.J. (1989). Fracture toughness and R-curves of glass fiber reinforced polyester. Composites 20. 120-124. 

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