Abstract This work aims at evaluating the fracture toughness of brittle materials by spherical indentation. The cone-cracking is simulated by the extended finite element method (XFEM) in Abaqus. The formation… Click to show full abstract
Abstract This work aims at evaluating the fracture toughness of brittle materials by spherical indentation. The cone-cracking is simulated by the extended finite element method (XFEM) in Abaqus. The formation of a kinked-cone-crack is observed when the indenter comes into (second) contact with the surface part outside the ring-crack. The effects of friction, Poisson’s ratio and cone-crack kinking on the Roesler’s constant κc are analyzed. Based on numerical results, the Roesler’s method for evaluating the fracture toughness is enhanced by considering kinked-cone-crack. By performing systematic XFE analyses, a database for enhanced Roesler’s constant κc | kink is provided for the fracture toughness evaluation of brittle materials. Finally, the proposed method is verified by conducting spherical indentation tests on soda-lime glass specimens.
               
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