Crack growth in Westerly granite during a cyclic loading test

Abstract

To examine the fatigue process of granite, cylindrical Westerly granite specimens, 10 mm in diameter and 20 mm in length, were subjected to a cyclic loading test under uniaxial compression with a maximum of 140 MPa at room temperature, and crack growth patterns within them were analyzed by microscopic observation and image analysis techniques. The fatigue process is divided into three characteristic stages; a primary stage in which the upper peak strain increases at a decelerating rate (stage I), a second stage with linearly slight increasing rate of strain following stage I (stage II), and the third and final stage in which the upper peak strain increases at an accelerating rate and culminates in specimen failure (stage III). A series of prefailure specimens, of which the stage in the fatigue process was decided by monitoring the strain behavior during the test, were retrieved. In addition, these specimens were compared with specimens stressed to close to the breaking strength by monotonic compression to examine the characteristic features of fatigue. The fluorescent method was applied to identify microcracks within the specimens. The advantage of this method is to provide quick and accurate identification of microcracks with an optical microscope. Microcracks are detected based on a marked difference in brightness under ultraviolet light irradiation because they are fully filled with acrylic resin mixed with a fluorescent substance in advance. Thin sections, including the axis of the specimen, 10 × 20 mm, were prepared for detailed observation after the pretreatment of the method. The results were as follows. At the initial degradation stage, distinguishing crack growth was identified in quartz grains. It is estimated that the slowdown of the strain growth rate at this stage was caused by the decrease in crack growth, that is, the portions with cracking potentiality were damaged at the first or early loading, and no further damage occurred immediately following the first damage. At the second stage, no significant crack growth in quartz grains was identified. On the other hand, in feldspar grains, development of cracks in a preferential direction, parallel to the loading direction, was observed. However, they did not grow into intergranular cracks by cutting across the grain boundaries during this stage. Consequently, it was found that a gradual progress of microcracks within feldspar grains was dominant during the second stage, and this is because the strain growth rate was in a steady and long state. At the final accelerated stage, many intergranular cracks running parallel to the loading direction were identified. It is obvious that these long cracks were formed mainly by the linking and growth of the intragranular cracks in feldspars, which were generated during the former stages. Their formation takes the fatigue process from the second stage to the final stage with a sharp increase in strain, and their further development seemed to lead the whole specimen to ultimate fatigue failure.