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S. Agnetti, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 26 (2013) 31-40 ; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.26.04 33 A kinematic relationship between crack velocity v and stress intensity factor K I exists and it is commonly used for glass lifetime prediction. For values of K I close to the critical value of K Ic (that represents the glass toughness), v is independent of the environment and the crack propagates very rapidly (for soda lime silica glass is about 1500 m/s). In the v-K I logarithmic-curve, v 0 represents the position and n is its slope. Below certain threshold stress intensity K th no crack growth occurs. The value of v 0 and n parameters are discussed by Haldimann [1], for laboratory condition, v 0 can be assumed equal to 0.01 mm/s, instead it is 6 mm/s in environmental condition. The parameter n is assumed 16. According to the theory of fracture mechanics, glass failure stress was defined using stress intensity factor K I . This equation is only valid in testing conditions where stress corrosion could be eliminated. If the subcritical crack growth is considered, the crack propagates as a function of loading time. This approach is presented by Haldimann [1], in which the crack velocity parameter v 0 has the dimension of a velocity, instead n is dimensionless.   2 2 0 0 2 ( ) ( ) n n n t n n n i Ic n a t a v K Y d n                   (2) The same relation can be expressed in terms of the value σ with a static loading time. It is possible to obtain the failure stress σ f , knowing the t f (s), i.e. the failure loading time and assuming a ci (m) corresponding to the initial crack flaw depth.   1 2 2 0 2 2 ( ) ( ) / n f f n n f Ic ci t t n v Y K a                  (3) Until a certain loading time, the inert strength is considered to determine the failure. But with the increase of the loading time, in presence of the stress corrosion, the relation (3) is used to determine the failure strength. The theoretical transition time loading between inert condition and time-depending condition, t ref , that could be considered a reference value is obtained by Eq. (1) and (3). 0 2 2 ( ) ref a t n v   (4) It t > t ref the strength decreases following (3), instead if t < t ref the failure is assumed to follow the inert strength level. Fracture surface analysis Fractography can bring quantitative information about loading condition at failure. The fracture surface is a source of information to determine the failure condition. Fractography of brittle materials is used to determine the origin of failure during strength testing, as in [8] and [9]. In general, this origin can be traced to material inhomogeneities, such as pores and micro-cracks, which occur due to machining (surface defects). Fracture features, such as mirror, mist and hackle zones, and crack branching, are formed upon failure. The fracture surface is a mirror zone that forms around the critical flaw, at the cross-section of the failed specimen. Under a failure stress, once the critical flaw starts to propagate, mirror boundary hackle lines are created after radiating crack reaches terminal velocity. The failure stress σ f , i.e. the maximum principal tensile stress at the fracture origin, was approximately proportional to the reciprocal of the square root of the mirror radius (radius of the mirror/ mist boundary) r m : 1 2 / f m r B   (5) Where B is a constant value (MPa m 1/2 ), that depends on the material properties. However, limited informations are available about the time-dependency of glass strength in relation to the mirror radius. The relation (5) related to brittle materials, is valid for inert strength values. The time-dependency in glass strength is not taken in consideration in the measurement of the mirror radius. The analysis and interpretation of fracture mirror sizes in brittle materials are given in [5]. Fracture mirrors are revealing fractographic markings that surround a fracture origin in brittle materials. The fracture mirror size may be used with known fracture mirror constants to estimate the stress in a fractured component. Alternatively, the fracture mirror size may be used in conjunction with known stresses in test specimens to calculate fracture mirror constants.