Cemented granular materials (CGMs) such as sedimentary rocks, ceramics, and sandstones are central to both natural geologic systems and engineered structures. Despite their importance, the relationship between microscopic and macroscale mechanical behavior in natural CGMs is not yet fully understood. To help bridge this gap, synthetic analogs like sintered soda-lime glass beads offer a platform for systematically tuning micro-structural parameters, including grain size and porosity, allowing for controlled investigations into failure processes. In this work, we examine sintered glass bead assemblies at the scale of both particle and bulk specimens to assess their fracture behavior and their applicability as proxies for natural sandstones. A combination of variable sintering protocols, microscopy, tensile testing of sintered bonds, and unconfined compression testing was employed. Key observations include: (1) inter-particle bonds exhibit the presence of pores reminiscent of those found in natural sedimentary rocks; (2) the strength of individual bonds followed a statistical size effect; (3) compressive strengths of the bulk samples fell within the range reported for sandstones of similar porosities; and (4) the strength-porosity relationship matched predictions from pore-emanated crack models but diverged from Hertzian failure models. These results deepen our understanding of failure in sintered CGMs and highlight their utility for studying deformation mechanisms relevant to natural geologic materials.

中文翻译：

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用作砂岩替代物的烧结钠钙玻璃球的微观和宏观失效机制

沉积岩、陶瓷和砂岩等胶结颗粒材料 （CGM） 是自然地质系统和工程结构的核心。尽管它们很重要，但天然 CGM 中微观和宏观机械行为之间的关系尚不完全清楚。为了帮助弥合这一差距，烧结钠钙玻璃珠等合成类似物提供了一个平台，用于系统地调整微观结构参数，包括晶粒尺寸和孔隙率，从而允许对失效过程进行受控研究。在这项工作中，我们在颗粒和块状样品的尺度上检查烧结玻璃珠组件，以评估它们的断裂行为及其作为天然砂岩代理的适用性。采用可变烧结方案、显微镜、烧结结合的拉伸测试和非受限压缩测试的组合。主要观察结果包括：（1） 颗粒间键表现出孔隙的存在，让人想起天然沉积岩中的孔隙;（2） 单个键的强度遵循统计大小效应;（3） 块状样品的抗压强度落在相似孔隙度的砂岩报告的范围内;（4） 强度-孔隙度关系与孔隙发出裂纹模型的预测相匹配，但与赫兹失效模型不同。这些结果加深了我们对烧结 CGM 失效的理解，并突出了它们在研究与自然地质材料相关的变形机制方面的效用。