Intrinsic fracture energy of 3D printed cement mortar obtained from snapback behaviour in indirect tensile testing

Dynamic and abrupt fracture are always the case observed in indirect tensile testing based on Brazilian discs. This dynamic and violent fracture challenges Brazilian disc testing for obtaining intrinsic fracture energy and tensile strength, as the energy is dissipated through not only the creation of new fracture surface, but also ejection of fragments. In this paper, the use of AUSBIT (Adelaide University Snapback Indirect Tensile test) for indirect displacement control allows stabilizing fracturing process to obtain quasi-static behaviour associated with snapback. Post-peak behaviour with snap-back can be successfully captured, allowing obtaining intrinsic fracture properties of 3D printed cement-based materials. Based on the results of load and displacements with good snap-back responses, the values of peak load are used for estimating the peak strength of the disc specimens and the fracture energy can be obtained from the area under load deflection curve. This preliminary result opens potentials to obtain intrinsic fracture energy of 3D printed cement-based mortar using indirect tensile testing.