Constant-curvature bending response of thin glass: Analytical, numerical and experimental study of “clamp-bending” tests

New generation thin, lightweight and damage-resistant glass, having impressively impact resistance and ability to be bent up to small radii, appears to be the optimal material for extremely deformable structural elements. Its structural use and design require an accurate evaluation of its mechanical properties. However, standard methods to test the glass strength, as the Four-Point Bending and the Coaxial Double Ring test, cannot be used for thin glass, due to its high deformability. Here, an innovative test is proposed, consisting into deforming a thin element into a costant-curvature shape, by prescribing a rotation on two opposite edges of a rectangular plate, while allowing the adjustment of the distance between the supporting hinges. This produces a deformation into an arch of a circle and to a constant stress distribution, allowing to determine the thin glass strength with very simple formulas. An innovative experimental setup, recently proposed for twisting tests on thin glass, has been adapted for constant-curvature bending tests, based on the results of both analytical modelling and numerical analyses. This has been used to perform an experimental campaign, comprising 15 destructive tests on chemically tempered thin glass.