Results of experimental investigation carried out to study the effects of addition of natural san fibres on the fracture toughness and impact strength of high-volume fly ash concrete are presented in this paper. San fibres belong to the category of ‘Natural Bast Fibres’, also known as ‘Sunn Hemp’. Its scientific (botanical) name is Crotalaria Juncea. It is mostly grown in the Indian Sub-Contine...

Fluid pressure inside a borehole produces hydraulic fracture and damage zones in the vicinity of the borehole. These fractures result from stress concentrations around the borehole. The results of numerical simulation of a borehole subjected to fluid pressure using a micromechanical damage model [2] are presented in this paper. It is observed that tensional concentrated stresses are generated a...

Recently, a method for evaluating the fracture toughness of ceramics has been proposed by Fett based on the computed crack-opening displacements of cracks emanating from Vickers hardness indentations. To verify this method, experiments have been conducted to determine the toughness of a commercial silicon carbide ceramic, Hexoloy SA, by measuring the crack-opening profiles of such Vickers inden...

Fracture toughness tests were conducted for an A533B-1 steel by using chevron-notched compact specimens in the temperature range from the lower shelf regime up to the transition temperature in order to assess the R-curve for cleavage fracture. The applicability of these specimens to the simple fracture toughness test without introducing fatigue pre-cracks was examind. The following are the summ...

The effects of grain-boundary chemistry on the mechanical properties of a high-purity silicon nitride ceramics were investigated, with specific emphasis on the role of oxygen. Variations in the grain-boundary oxygen content, through control of oxidizing heat treatments and sintering additives, was found to result in a transition in fracture mechanism from transgranular to intergranular fracture...

The marginal fracture toughness of several types of composite resins was determined by means of the rattler test. Microparticle-filled resins showed significantly higher marginal fracture toughness than conventional composites. Posterior restorative composites were intermediate between MFRs and conventional composites. Amalgams were inferior to restorative resins. These data correspond with the...

The fracture toughness, K IC, of a cortical bone has been experimentally determined by several researchers. The variation of K IC values occurs from the variation of specimen orientation, shape, and size during the experiment. The fracture toughness of a cortical bone is governed by the severest flaw and, hence, may be analyzed using Weibull statistics. To the best of the authors' knowledge, ho...