The effect of edge preparation on glass flexural strength

Abstract

This dissertation is concerned with the study of what effect the glass edge preparation has on its flexural strength. Glass fails because it has micro cracks in the surface, which lead to stress concentrations of thus failure. When glass is cut, a shallow score is induced in the surface, thus creating a concentration of micro cracks. Testing was conducted using a series of four point bending tests on annealed glass samples, which had different edge preparations. These edge preparations consisted of, non-polished and polished edges, with the non-polished samples being further divided into two groups, those having the cutting score mark on the tension side and those that had it on the compression side.