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Determination of Fracture Toughness of Brittle Materials by Indentation

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Abstract

Fracture toughness is one of the crucial mechanical properties of brittle materials such as glasses and ceramics which demonstrate catastrophic failure modes. Conventional standardized testing methods adopted for fracture toughness determination require large specimens to satisfy the plane strain condition. As for small specimens, indentation is a popular, sometimes exclusive testing mode to determine fracture toughness for it can be performed on a small flat area of the specimen surface. This review focuses on the development of indentation fracture theories and the representative testing methods. Cracking pattern dependent on indenter geometry and material property plays an important role in modeling, and is the main reason for the diversity of indentation fracture theories and testing methods. Along with the simplicity of specimen requirement is the complexity of modeling and analysis which accounts for the semi-empirical features of indentation fracture tests. Some unresolved issues shaping the gap between indentation fracture tests and standardization are also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190, Beijing, China

    Yihui Feng

  2. College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, 310014, Hangzhou, China

    Taihua Zhang

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  1. Yihui Feng
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  2. Taihua Zhang
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Correspondence to Taihua Zhang.

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Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11302231, 11025212 and 11272318).

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Feng, Y., Zhang, T. Determination of Fracture Toughness of Brittle Materials by Indentation. Acta Mech. Solida Sin. 28, 221–234 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0894-9166(15)30010-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0894-9166(15)30010-0

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