Limiting Subcritical Crack Growth in Glass

Abstract

Subcritical crack growth measurements were made in borosilicale glass/Fe-Ni-Co particulate composites, in which the metal particles were used both as-received and also with a surface oxidation treatment. The composites containing the partially oxidized particles exhibited no measurable crack growth before catastrophic failure ensued. The nonoxidized particle composites did exhibit measurable growth. We attribute strong bonding of the oxidized deformable particles to the matrix as the main reason for the increase in slow crack growth resistance. This method of "effectively" eliminating subcritical crack growth may be a means by which the design threshold of glasses is raised, thus opening new areas of applications for glass systems.