Compressive damage development in confined borosilicate glass

The results of quasistatic compression experiments are presented for borosilicate glass under confinement. The experiments were designed to characterize the damage development process, specifically the effect of comminution on the mechanical performance of the glass. The primary objective is to increase understanding of the transition from intact to damaged material to aid in modeling efforts for armor design applications. Load cycling experiments were performed on confined Borofloat glass samples (intact or pre-damaged) to create and evaluate the behavior of comminuted material. Samples were inserted in a high-strength steel confining sleeve, and then loaded and re-loaded at increasing compressive loads, and quasistatic strain rates, to fail the material in-situ. Several tests of the pre-damaged material were interrupted following a finite number of load cycles to investigate the onset and extent of damage. Microstructural evaluation of the glass samples following testing aided in determining the extent of damage at increasing load levels. Emphasis is on characterization and analysis of damage development in the borosilicate glass. Further details on the experimental technique and application of the results using a constitutive model are detailed in recent papers by the authors [ 1,2]. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.