Comparative study on the dynamic compressive, tensile and flexural properties of soda-lime silicate glass

The mechanical behavior of brittle solids are influenced by many factors such as specimen sizes, surface conditions and loading conditions. This work focused on the mechanical properties of a soda-lime silicate glass under three kinds of loading, i.e. compression, tension and flexure. In addition, quasi-static, dynamic uniaxial-unidirectional (UU) and uniaxial-bidirectional (UB) tests were performed. Electromagnetic split Hopkinson pressure bar (ESHPB), a newly developed system, was adopted in the dynamic tests. A high-speed camera was employed to capture the dynamic failure process. Effects of loading rates, specimen sizes, stress waves and loading modes on the mechanical behavior of this glass were comparatively investigated. Testing results illustrated that specimen size and strain rate had significant influence on the strengths. Different from the tensile and flexural strengths, the compressive strength was sensitive to the loading stress waves. The flexural strength was generally higher than the tensile one and they could be mutually converted through the non-local failure theory. Fracture surface of glass fragment after tensile loading was observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to reveal the microscopic features.