Non-Contact 3D Characterization System of Scratch-Induced Surface Damage on Monolithic Glass Panel

Abstract

Glass material has been widely used in modern architecture. Scratch-induced surface damage of aged monolithic glass panel leads to the strength degradation of material and thus threatens the glass safety. Therefore, in order to accurately evaluate the strength of aged glass elements, it is crucial to extract key damage features including the damage location and depth in a precise way. This study aims to develop a non-contact stage-wise scanning method to extract 3D damage characteristics on glass surface, which can further facilitate the investigation into the associated influences on the flexural strength of glass. Coaxial double ring tests on annealed glass specimens under various magnitudes of applied loads were performed, which aimed to explore the influence of the surface damage on the flexural strength. Monocular microscope equipped with an industrial camera was used to detect damage area throughout the glass panel in the first stage rapidly. It was then followed by a chromatic confocal scanner to precisely measure the damage depth within local damage area. The results via confocal microscope scanning were considered as the reference values. It shows that the proposed method can be a potentially alternative solution instead of confocal microscope for damage quantification.