Chemical reaction between water vapor and stressed glass

The crack velocity in soda-lime silicate glass was determined at room temperature at water-vapor pressures of 10 to 0.04 torr using the double torsion technique. A precracked glass specimen (70 x 16 x 1.6 mm) was placed in a vacuum chamber containing a four-point bending test apparatus. The plotted experimental results show that the crack propagation curve in water agrees fairly well with that of Wiederhorn (1967). Attention is given to the effect of water vapor pressure on crack velocity at K(I) = 550,000 N/m to the 3/2 power, with (Wiederhorn's data) or without N2 present. The plotted results reveal that the present crack velocity is about two orders of magnitude higher than that of Wiederhorn at high water-vapor conditions, but the difference decreases as the water-vapor concentration diminishes or the crack velocity slows down.