Assessment of fracture toughness in ornamental stones

This paper describes the advantages and disadvantages of using different methodologies that apply bending fixtures for determining the fracture toughness of different stones. In general, the experimental results tend to show less variability when applying a 4-point bending mode. The comparison of the results obtained using the different experimental procedures also has stressed the great importance of using sharp notches in order to avoid overestimation of fracture toughness. This specific aspect has been also analysed in detail by performing a fractographic examination of unnotched bar specimens submitted to a 4-point bending test. This procedure shows how it is possible to locate and measure the origin of fracture, which contributes, among other things, to discuss the failure mechanisms of stones. Fracture toughness values also have been estimated via fractographic examination and the results compared with those obtained when applying the experimental methodologies.