The breakage behaviour of Aspirin under quasi-static indentation and single particle impact loading: Effect of crystallographic anisotropy

The influence of crystallographic structural anisotropy on the breakage behaviour of Aspirin under impact loading is highlighted. Under both quasi-static testing conditions, using nano-indentation, and dynamic impact tests, Aspirin demonstrates clear anisotropy in its slip and fracture behaviour. During nano-indentation on the (1 0 0) and (0 0 1) faces, cracks were propagated along the [0 1 0] direction. While the hardness was found to be comparatively similar for both these faces, it was observed that slip due to plastic deformation occurred more readily on the (1 0 0) than the (0 0 1) crystal planes suggesting the former as the preferred slip plane. Furthermore, the fracture toughness on the (0 0 1) planes was found to be distinctly lower than that of the (1 0 0) planes, indicating the former as the preferred cleavage plane. Observations of the crystal morphology of damaged particles after dynamic impact testing showed that both the chipping and fragmentation of Aspirin mostly occurred via cleavage in a manner consistent with the observed fracture behaviour following nano-indentation. This work highlights the importance of cleavage as a dominant factor underpinning the fracture mechanism of Aspirin under both quasi-static and impact loading conditions.

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