Fracture behaviour of engineering stone material
International Journal of Structural Integrity
ISSN: 1757-9864
Article publication date: 5 November 2019
Issue publication date: 3 February 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Engineered stone is a material which can be described as an artificial stone. The exemplary application area is sink production. There are very few research projects about this type of material. In fact, most of them are research conducted by the manufacturing company, which are limited to the basic properties of the material. However, knowledge about fracture mechanic of this material may be crucial in terms of usage. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Analysis of the inside structure was made using an optical microscope as well as SEM. In the paper, methods which can be used to obtain data about fracture behaviour of material are presented. Using eXtended Finite Element Method and experimental data from three-point bending of notched specimens stress intensity factors (SIFs) for I and II load modes were obtained. Finally, a comparison between the fracture initiation angle in the function of the ration of SIFs for I/II load modes and maximum tangential stress hypothesis prediction was presented.
Findings
Analysis of the inside structure proves that this type of material has an uneven distribution of particle size. This can follow to void and micronotches formation and, later, to the failure of the material. A method of obtaining stress intensity factors for the discussed type of material and specimens can be successfully applied to other similar material, as proposed in this work. Standard crack angle propagation criteria are not sufficient for this type of material.
Originality/value
There are very few research papers about this type of material. The subject of fracture mechanic is not properly discovered, despite the fact that IT is important in terms of the application area of these materials.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The publication has been prepared as a part of the Support Program of the Partnership between Higher Education and Science and Business Activity Sector financed by City of Wroclaw.
Citation
Smolnicki, M., Cieciura, M., Lesiuk, G., Correia, J. and Stabla, P. (2021), "Fracture behaviour of engineering stone material", International Journal of Structural Integrity, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 70-88. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSI-05-2019-0047
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited