Enlightening the role of critical parameters for the determination of the tensile strength by means of the Circular Semi Ring test

Abstract Analytic formulae for stresses and displacements are provided for the Circular Semi Ring under either compression or tension. The respective expressions for the tensile strength for both tests are obtained and compared to existing ones. In addition, it is shown that smooth contact between the specimen and the loading device should be preferred. The suggested tests seem to remove some drawbacks of existing methods for obtaining the tensile strength of brittle materials: Fracture is achieved at points where the stress field is purely tensile and, also, very low external force is required thus avoiding premature fracturing at the specimen-loading device contact region. From the theoretical point of view the tension test appears to be more advantageous regarding the very low fracture load and the fact that the maximum tensile stress is higher in absolute value from the respective compressive one.