A hydraulic strength test for brittle samples

Abstract

A hydraulic pressure technique has been used to measure the strength of glass discs. The apparatus is simple to construct and to use, and its behaviour agrees well with theory. Results are presented which demonstrate the use of the pressure tester in examining the reduction in strength of glass specimens, caused by high velocity water-jet impact; this situation has relevance to the practical problem of the rain erosion of brittle materials. For this study the pressure apparatus has proved to have important advantages over other experimental methods.