Uniaxial and biaxial fracture behaviour of refractory materials

Mechanical fracture properties of specimens taken from refractory materials of different brittleness are described using the wedge splitting method according to Tschegg in uniaxial and biaxial load cases. Notch-tensile strength, fracture energy and the characteristic length were determined. Fracture energy under a uniaxial load is more or less the same for all materials; if a load becomes biaxial, values fall to approx. 70% in materials with reduced brittleness and to 40% in brittle materials, compared to uniaxial values. The sensitivity against crack propagation (lch) changes insignificantly under both uniaxial and biaxial loading of brittle and brittleness-reduced materials.