抄録
The influence of humidity on the strength of glass strip is studied experimentally. The marked fluctuations are observed on the strength as well as on the extent of mirror surface appearing at the starting point of fracture. By means of statistical analysis, it is found that the probability of breakdown when the load attains the value between f and f+df is expressed by
μ(f)df=aexp[−(E0−βf)⁄kT]·df.
Here, E0 is the activation energy of glass, βf the energy applied by external loading, T the absolute temperature and k the Boltzmann’s constant. For the variation of humidity, β is kept constant, while E0 decreases with increasing humidity. The effect of humidity is negligible to the extent of mirror, for which the following relation is proved to hold good.
\barl−l0=Cexp(−α⁄2·f)
Here, \barl is the mean extents of mirrors produced by the load f, l0 the minimum extent of mirror and C, α some constants.
