2025 ECerS - FIRE Summer School - Dietmar Gruber

Fracture mechanical testing and inverse evaluation

Dietmar Gruber

Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria

Fracture mechanical testing of refractories is important in quality control and in determining key input parameters for calculations and simulations. Furthermore, these parameters are essential for assessing the thermal shock resistance and brittleness of refractories, which are vital for their performance in high-temperature applications. Among the available fracture testing methods, the wedge splitting test is particularly advantageous due to its ability to provide a stable fracture process due to a high fracture surface-to-volume ratio, a large fracture process zone and the action of the wedge. This test enables the determination of nominal notch tensile strength and specific fracture energy from the load-displacement curve.

To gain deeper insights, finite element (FE) simulations can be employed for inverse evaluation, allowing the determination of real tensile strength, total specific fracture energy, and strain-softening behaviour. For high-temperature experiments, the influence of creep can also be quantified. This presentation will explore the principles and advantages of the wedge splitting test, the definition and quantification of brittleness, and the application of inverse evaluation procedures for both room-temperature and high-temperature experiments.

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