Effects of chemical environments on slow crack growth in glasses and ceramics

This paper presents a review of our current understanding of environmentally induced slow crack growth in glasses, single crystals, and polycrystalline ceramics. It is shown that the rate of crack growth is controlled by the chemical activity of the active species in the environment as well as by the stress intensity at the crack tip. A recently developed molecular model of stress‐induced chemical reaction between vitreous silica and water is...