Diametral compression of short cylinders with a central hole as a method for assessing the tear resistance of brittle materials

Abstract

The possibility of evaluating the tear resistance of brittle materials by diametral compression test of short cylinders (solid and central with a central hole) has been analyzed. The computational analysis was performed by the finite element method using the ANSYS program. It is shown that the stress distribution in a disk with a hole is similar that without a hole but contains disturbances introduced by a stress concentrator in the form of a hole. The normalized values of the maximum first principal stresses for a disk with a hole exceed the values for a disk without a hole by more than 5 times. The experimental analysis was carried out by testing short cylinders, both solid and with a central hole, made of brittle materials: cast iron and graphite. It is noted that the fracture resistance, determined by the formula recommended by the ASTM D3967 – 95a standard, practically does not differ for solid cast iron samples, and for graphite differs by 1.5 times from the true tear resistance of materials; when testing samples with a central hole, the tear resistance differs from the standard values by a factor of 1.5 and almost 2.5, respectively. The different nature of the sample destruction is also noted: slow controlled rupture of cast iron and dynamic destruction of graphite with the corresponding deformation diagrams. The results of testing fuel pellets of uranium dioxide are given as an example of testing real cylindrical samples with a central hole. It is shown that the test results of ARV-1 graphite samples are in good agreement with the test results of fuel samples. Thus, the possibility of testing small-sized short cylinders according to the diametral compression scheme for indirect assessment of the tensile strength of brittle materials has been confirmed. A calculation formula is proposed for an indirect assessment of the tensile strength of brittle materials based on the results of testing small-sized short cylinders, both with and without a central hole according to the diametral compression scheme.