LAUSR

The dynamic fracture of high-stiffness and low-toughness materials such as soda-lime glass (SLG) typically involves crack initiation and growth prior to branching, underlying mechanics of which is not yet fully understood. Investigation of this issue using full-field optical techniques face numerous spatio-temporal challenges since crack speeds in these materials reach 1500 m/s or more and are accompanied by highly localized deformations. However, often it is tacitly assumed that most optical methods are equally capable of studying this challenging problem and it turns out not to be true. To this end, three prevalent optical techniques - transmission photoelasticity, 2D Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and transmission Digital Gradient Sensing (DGS) - are implemented concurrently to visualize crack-tip fields and quantify fracture characteristics associated with crack initiation, crack growth and macroscopic crack bifurcation in SLG plates subjected to nominally identical loading in three separate experiments. Each method is implemented in conjunction with ultrahigh-speed (1 Mfps) photography, flash/pulse illumination, and a modified-Hopkinson pressure bar for impact loading of specimens. The feasibility of measuring fracture parameters and imposed force histories along with the pros and cons of each approach for this material system are examined.