Papers by Author: V. González

Abstract: In the present work we discuss the self-affine properties of the fracture surfaces of sodalime glass obtained under quasi-static conditions. The fracture surfaces are generated using a threepoint bending system in normal room conditions and under high humidity conditions. The surfaces were recorded both by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy, and their selfaffine properties are characterized using the Variable Bandwidth method. For both conditions it is observed that the major part of the fracture surface is occupied by the mirror zone. On the other hand, the self-affine analysis reveals that for both conditions the roughness exponent has values centred at around 0.58 with moderate dispersion, in agreement with previous results. Our findings support the hypothesis of the existence of a characteristic roughness exponent for quasi-static fracture with a value that is significantly lower than the value of 0.8 reported for rapid fracture conditions.

Abstract: The fracture surfaces of SAE-1018 steel tension and impact test specimens with different grain sizes are analyzed in order to explore the possible relations between the microstructure and the self-affine fracture surface parameters such as the roughness exponent, ζ, and the correlation length, ξ. The topography of the fracture surfaces was observed and quantified by means of scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, optical microscopy and optical digitizer. It is confirmed that the fracture surfaces exhibit a self-affine behavior extending over six decades of length scale, from nanometers up to a few millimeters. The roughness exponent exhibits a value of ζ∼0.82 for all the cases regardless of the microstructural condition.