Morphology Of Vickers Indent Flaws In Soda-Lime-Silica Glass

The subsurface structure of Vickers indents in soda-lime-silica glass was investigated using confocal microscopy and conventional microscopy. It was determined that the lateral cracks that form beneath the indentation site propagate away from the surface. The median/radical (MR) crack system was found to be semielliptical in shape. The growth of the lateral and MR cracks was found to be codependent such that the depth of the lateral crack limited the depth of the MR crack, and the presence of the MR crack caused deflections in the direction and increased the extent of lateral crack growth.