Triboluminescence, a new tool to investigate fracture-initiation time of crystals under stress

Abstract

The present paper reports that triboluminescence (TBL) does not appear at the instant of impact of the load but a certain time lag is required for its appearance which depends on the value of the stress applied to the crystal. Since TBL appears in sugar crystals during the creation of new surfaces, the fracture-initiation time of the crystal has been taken to be the delay time in observing TBL pulse after the application of stress. The dependence of fracture-initiation time, t_f^σ, of crystals on the stress, σ, may be expressed as t_f^σ=t_oexp(-ασ), where t_o and α are constants. The values of the lattice energy, and the change in lattice energy per unit stress, of sugar crystals have been calculated from TBL measurements and they have been found to be 21·2 kcal mole^-1 and 0·41×10^-8 kcal mole^-1 dyne^-1 cm² respectively.