Effect Of Growth And Coalescence Of Multisurface Cracks On Static Fatigue Behaviour Of Glass Ceramics

In order to study the effect of the interaction and coalescence of multisurface cracks on the static fatigue behaviour of brittle materials such as glass and ceramics, a single crack and three collinear cracks were introduced on the surfaces of plate specimens of glass ceramics by Vickers microhardness indentation and were subjected to a constant four-point bending load. It was found that time-to-failure for a certain applied stress significantly decreased with the decrease in the crack centre distance of indentation cracks, and the effect of interaction and coalescence of multicracks was shown to be significant.