Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-16T19:03:26.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The double cone fracture in flint

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

D. J. Williams
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ

Summary

This work proposes a mechanism for the formation of the characteristic ‘double cone’ cracking and ‘bulb of percussion with bulbar scar’ cracking caused by the artificial fracture of flint. The double cone fracture is observed as a large, small apex angle, cone that is truncated by a smaller cone of increased apex angle. The author considers that the large narrow apex angle truncated cone of the fracture is caused by Hertzian loading of the flint on impact and the upper complete cone is formed as a result of the unloading of the stressed flint. This mechanism has been deduced from work carried out in the fractography of glass by others and from some restricted laboratory experiments.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bahat, D. 1977. Prehistoric Hertzian fracture of quartz. J. Mat. Sci. 12, 616–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bahat, D. & Sharpe, M. R. 1982. Dependence of Hertzian fracture angle on Poisson's ratio and indentation techniques. J. Mat. Sci. 17, 1167–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hertz, H. 1896. Hertz's Miscellaneous Papers, chapters 5 and 6. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Janach, W. 1979. Impact of a steel cylinder on a rock half space. Inst. Phys. Conf. Ser. no. 47, chapter 3, 331–6.Google Scholar
Jeans, C. V. 1978. Silifications and associated clay assemblages in the Cretaceous marine sediments of Southern England. Clay Miner 13, 101–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, K. L., O’Connor, J. J. & Woodward, A. C. 1973. The effect of the indenter elasticity on the Hertzian fracture on brittle materials. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 334, 95117.Google Scholar
Johnson, W. 1972. Impact Strength of Materials, pp. 1100. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Johnson, W. & Mamalis, A. G. 1977. The fracture in some explosively end loaded bars of plaster of Paris and Perspex containing transverse holes or changes in section. Int. J. Mech. Sci. 19, 169–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, C. G., Swain, M. V. & Chaudri, M. M. 1977. Impact of small steel spheres on glass surfaces. J. Mat. Sci. 12, 1573–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawn, B. R. & Wilshaw, T. R. 1975. Fracture of Brittle Solids, pp. 9, 63–5. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shepherd, W. 1972. Flint, Its Origin, Properties and Uses, pp. 145–93. London: Faber and Faber.Google Scholar
Swain, M. V. & Lawn, B. R. 1976. Indentation fracture in brittle rocks and glasses. Int. J. Rock. Mech. Min. Sci. and Geomech. Abstr. 13, 311–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar