Fracture property studies of paracetamol single crystals using microindentation techniques.

PURPOSE: To study the fracture behavior of the major habit faces of paracetamol single crystals using microindentation techniques and to correlate this with crystal structure and molecular packing.
METHODS: Vicker's microindentation techniques were used to measure the hardness and crack lengths. The development of all the major radial cracks was analyzed using the Laugier relationship and fracture toughness values evaluated.
RESULTS: Paracetamol single crystals showed severe cracking and fracture around all Vicker's indentations with a limited zone of plastic deformation close to the indent. This is consistent with the material being a highly brittle solid that deforms principally by elastic deformation to fracture rather than by plastic flow. Fracture was associated predominantly with the (010) cleavage plane, but was also observed parallel to other lattice planes including (110), (210) and (100). The cleavage plane (010) had the lowest fracture toughness value, Kc = 0.041MPa m1/2, while the greatest value, Kc = 0.105MPa m1/2 was obtained for the (210) plane.
CONCLUSIONS: Paracetamol crystals showed severe cracking and fracture because of the highly brittle nature of the material. The fracture behavior could be explained on the basis of the molecular packing arrangement and the calculated attachment energies across the fracture planes.