Mechanical Properties of Glass Microspheres

Glass microspheres are used for both medical and industrial applications among others. It is of interest to develop simple experimental techniques to characterize the mechanical properties of different sets of glass microspheres. In this study we performed the Point Load Strength Tests (PLST) on alumino-borosilicate and yttrium-aluminosilicate glass microspheres samples, with sizes between 50 and 200 mu m obtained by the In Flame Spherodization Method (IFSM). We measured the breaking load of each microsphere within a set, and used Weibull statistics to determine the mechanical parameters values of each set of microspheres. We found for 75 mu m microspheres, that those made of alumino-borosilicate glass have a Weibull modulus of 4.0 +/- 0.1 and for the yttrium-aluminosilicate microspheres the Weibull modulus is 3.3 +/- 0.1. Scale parameter values are 710 +/- 20 and 390 +/- 20MPa respectively. These results show that the PLST technique and Weibull analysis together constitute a valuable tool for mechanical characterization of glass microspheres samples. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.