Reinforced glass: Structural potential of cast glass beams with embedded metal reinforcement

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Abstract

The shaping freedom of cast glass in combination with the robustness of the resulting voluminous components opens up new, exciting directions in the field of structural glass. Yet, cast glass components remain brittle, limiting their structural applications in hyper-static compressive structures designed with conservative safety factors. Stretching these limits, this work investigates the reinforcement of cast glass by incorporating metal bars during the casting process, in a similar principle to reinforced concrete. Aim is to increase the ductility of the composite glass component, provide a warning mechanism prior to ultimate fracture and secure a postfailure load-bearing capacity. The development of hybrid glass components involves kiln-casting experiments using different metal-glass combinations, of similar thermal expansion coefficients. The method of introducing the metal bar in the glass during casting, and the effect of the selected forming temperature are investigated. The resulting metal-glass interfaces are examined for micro-cracks using a digital microscope, and for internal stresses using cross-polarized light. Two material combinations are found successful; soda lime silica with titanium and alkali borosilicate with Kovar. A hybrid borosilicate-Kovar 30*30*240mm beam is further tested in 4-point bending until failure, while its displacement is measured by Digital Image Correlation. The flexural response of the composite component is compared to the performance of unreinforced cast glass beams of similar composition. Although reinforced and unreinforced specimens show a comparable flexural strength, the reinforced specimen exhibits a warning mechanism well before failure, a gradual fracture and a post-failure load-bearing capacity. These attributes encourage the further exploration of cast glass reinforcement.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCurrent Perspectives and New Directions in Mechanics, Modelling and Design of Structural Systems
Subtitle of host publicationProceedings of The Eighth International Conference on Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation, 5-7 September 2022, Cape Town, South Africa
EditorsAlphose Zingoni
PublisherCRC Press / Balkema - Taylor & Francis Group
Pages807-812
Number of pages6
Volume1
ISBN (Print)9781003348443
Publication statusPublished - 2022
EventEighth International Conference on Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation - South Africa, Cape Town
Duration: 5 Sept 20227 Sept 2022
Conference number: 8

Conference

ConferenceEighth International Conference on Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation
Abbreviated titleSEMC 2022
CityCape Town
Period5/09/227/09/22

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care
Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Keywords

  • structural glass
  • cast glass
  • glass reinforcement
  • Glass beams

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