A new project involving researchers from Rensselaer and Corning was launched in May 2020, aimed at understanding glass fracture. The lead investigators, Jared Aaldenberg ’07, ’16 Ph.D. of Corning and Professor Catalin Picu from the Mechanical Engineering Department at Rensselaer, describe the project as a necessary step in the development of a new fracture toughness testing method using a Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) sample geometry. The strength and toughness of glass are essential material properties for Corning products. Corning evaluates these parameters using standard methods previously established and used for other materials, and using specimens of specific size and shape that have been developed internally to facilitate the respective measurements. Given the discrepancy between the type of samples used in the experiments and those mandated by the current standards, analytical expressions commonly used to infer material properties based on measured quantities may provide erroneous predictions. The goal of the project is to develop analytic and numerical models that allow determining accurate values of material parameters using Corning’s DCB test specimens. This work is expected to lead to a new standard for the measurement of glass toughness.
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