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Characterization of the Grain-Level Mechanical Behavior of Eglin Sand by Nanoindentation

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Abstract

Characterization was made on the structure and grain-level mechanical behavior of Eglin sand (Quikrete #1961 sand quarried in Pensacola, FL). The as-received assorted sand was sorted to six grain sizes: 0.60 mm, 0.50 mm, 0.42 mm, 0.30 mm, 0.212 mm, and 0.15 mm. The sand chemical constituents and crystalline structures were determined using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The Young’s modulus and hardness were determined using nanoindentation with a Berkovich tip, and the fracture toughness was measured using a cube-corner tip. The median Young’s modulus, hardness and fracture toughness were determined as 90.4 GPa, 12.8 GPa and 2.32 MPa⋅m0.5, respectively. The mechanical properties were analyzed statistically and the parameters of the Weibull distribution were determined. The grains show highly ductile behavior under nanoindentation due to confinement by high pressure induced by Berkovich tip. An inverse problem solving approach using finite element method (FEM) with the consideration of the Ramberg-Osgood model was used to determine the stress–strain relationship for individual sand grains.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support of ONR MURI BAA 10-026, DOE NEUP 09-818, AFOSR DEPSCoR FA9550-08-1-0328, and NSF under CMMI-0619803, CMMI-1031829, DMR-0907291, CMMI-1132174, and ECCS-1307997. Lu also thanks the Louis A. Beecherl Jr. Chair for additional support. Mirshams acknowledges partial support from UNT Office of Sponsored Research. Park and Kim acknowledge the support from the State of Texas ETF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA

    F. Wang, B. Fu & S. Staggs

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, 75080, USA

    F. Wang, H. Luo & H. Lu

  3. Department of Engineering Technology, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76203, USA

    R. A. Mirshams

  4. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirkland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM, 87117, USA

    W. L. Cooper

  5. Samsung Electronics Co., Hwasung-City, Gyeonggi-Do, 445-701, South Korea

    S. Y. Park

  6. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, 75080, USA

    M. J. Kim

  7. El Arroyo Enterprises LLC, Sedona, AZ, 86336, USA

    C. Hartley

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  1. F. Wang
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  2. B. Fu
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  10. H. Lu
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Correspondence to H. Lu.

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This paper is dedicated to Dr. Ranga Komanduri, who passed away on September 6, 2011 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

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Wang, F., Fu, B., Luo, H. et al. Characterization of the Grain-Level Mechanical Behavior of Eglin Sand by Nanoindentation. Exp Mech 54, 871–884 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-013-9845-z

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