Mechanical Properties of a Transparent Brittle Material Manufactured by Fused Silica

In this paper, the mechanical properties and size effects, which are important factors to be considered in the determination of strength, were assessed for a transparent material made from fused silica. This material could be a suitable substitute for brittle rocks or concrete. Laboratory tests on the strength and deformation properties of the transparent material were performed through uniaxial compression tests and Brazilian tensile tests. To study the size effect, cylindrical specimens for uniaxial compressive tests were prepared with diameters of 40, 45, and 50 mm and a height-to-diameter (H/D) ratio of 2.0. The specimens for Brazilian tensile tests were made into cylindrical discs with diameters of 40, 50, and 100 mm and H/D ratios of 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0, respectively. The stress-strain relationship of the transparent material was found to be similar to that of brittle rocks, for which the elastic modulus increased with the increasing diameter for uniaxial compression tests. The uniaxial compression strength (UCS) and Brazilian tensile strength (BTS) of the specimens ranged between 63.64 and 109.70 MPa and between 2.48 and 7.4 MPa, respectively. These results are approximately 44.80%−74.20% and 30.20%−36.15% of those of granite. The UCS of the specimens increases with an increasing diameter. However, the BTS decreases as the specimen diameter and H/D ratio increase.