RESEARCH Effect of sandblasting defects distribution on the mechanical strength of a soda-lime glass Abdelaziz Faci 1 & Smail Benterki 1 & Nourredine Bouaouadja 1 Received: 17 November 2018 /Revised: 8 July 2019 /Accepted: 13 December 2019 # Australian Ceramic Society 2020 Abstract Erosion tests were carried out to study the influence of sandblasting defects on the flexural strength R (ring-on-ring) of a soda- lime glass by varying the sand impact velocity V and impact angle α. Constant sand mass (30 g) and particles size (1000 μm) were used. The results show that the surface damage increases as V increases, and when α tends towards 90°. The maximum damage rate reached is about 52%. For low sandblasting conditions (V = 15 m/s, α = 30°), R is in the order of 103.6 MPa, while for the most severe conditions, R is reduced to 17.4 MPa. The Weibull analysis allowed seeing the effect of erosion parameters taken separately and taken all together. In the first case, the defects distributions are unimodal and the Weibull modulus m varies in the range (7 ÷ 19). Considering all the parameters together, the distribution becomes bimodal with a good agreement between the experimental values and the chi square approximation. So, we have concluded that there are two families of defects that govern the flexural strength: • Those corresponding to low sizes (low impact angles and velocities) and great values of R; • Those corresponding to great sizes (high impact angles and velocities) and low values of R. The strength distribution is found to be partially concurrent. A function relating the impact angles and sand flow velocities to the flexural strength is introduced. The experimental data obtained seem to correspond well to the proposed function. Keywords Glass . Weibull analysis . Erosion . Flexural strength Introduction Sandstorms are considered as a major problem occurring in Saharan regions in many domains (environment, industry, transport, agriculture…). They limit the life time of brittle materials exposed to impacts induced by the projection of sand particles [1, 2]. In fact, the damage of functional surfaces, such as glasses and coated materials, has a negative influence on the properties and on the esthetic aspect. The surface dam- age leads to the reduction of the fracture strength and optical transmission of glass [3, 4]. According to literature [5, 6], erosion process in glasses is considered as elastic-plastic. The localized plastic deformation at the impact sites is accompanied by the formation of imprints, and around there is a formation of complex cracks network caused by the incident particles impacts. Induced damage depends on the shape of the projected sand grains and their kinetic energy. According to Hutchings [2] for the same level of kinetic energy, angular particles induce greater damage than round particles. Many authors have shown some interest for a thorough understanding of the cracking mecha- nisms generated by solid particle erosion. Several models were published describing the relation between the relevant parameters intervening in the erosion process induced by hard particles such as sand and alumina [5, 7]. Erosion defects present various shapes and sizes according to the diversity of the projected particles (nature, shape, size, velocity, and impact angle) and the possible interaction be- tween the neighboring impacts. On another hand, it has been shown [1, 8, 9] that erosion of brittle materials depends on several factors, among them the impact speed and the particles size which play a dominant role in the erosion process. It is these factors that determine the kinetic energy of the projec- tiles. It is well-established that glass strength is sensitive to surface flaws. Defects of critical size in the damaged surface * Abdelaziz Faci faciaziz@yahoo.com 1 Laboratory of Non-Metallic Materials, Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, University Ferhat Abbas Sétif 1, El Bez, 19000 Sétif, Algeria Journal of the Australian Ceramic Society https://doi.org/10.1007/s41779-019-00444-1