Residual stresses and critical diameter in vitreous matrix materials

The present study was undertaken to test the validity of existing models for: i) the residual internal stresses which arise due to thermal and elastic mismatch in duplex systems, and ii) the critical particle diameter for spontaneous cracking. Partially crystallized 1,07 Na2 O-2 Ca O-3 Si O2 - 6% P2 O5 glasses were studied. The experimental residual stress was in excellent agreement with the calculated value, however, the critical particle diameter, estimated by an energy balance approach, was more than ten times smaller than the experimental value. This discrepancy indicates that the energy model is not applicable in this case. (author)