Fracture of Ceramics

Abstract

The paper reviews the current state of art of the fracture of brittle ceramic materials. Typical loading situations (thermal shock, contact damage) are analysed and the resulting fracture modes are discussed. In focus of the paper are the brittle fracture and the resulting probabilistic aspects. The delayed failure of brittle materials (sub critical crack growth and cyclic fatigue) is also discussed.

Dimension limit for thermal shock failure

“…Introduction Thermal shock failure of ceramics widely occurs in the thermostructural applications of ceramics. More than one-third of the rejections of ceramic components are caused by thermal shock [1]. Previous studies point out that besides the properties of materials, two external factors of ceramics, the characteristic dimension and the temperature difference, play a key role in the thermal shock failures of ceramics [2][3][4][5][6][7].…”

Silicon nitride materials for hot working of high strength metal wires

“…In ceramic materials a crack growth mechanisms has been recognised, which also occurs at stress intensity factors smaller than the fracture toughness [20,21] (e.g. cracks extend under a constant load).…”

“…cracks extend under a constant load). Subcritical crack growth is sometimes also called slow crack growth or static fatigue [21,22].…”

“…Cyclic fatigue is a further crack growth mechanism known to exist in ceramic materials [20,21,24,25]. A typical fatigue damage mechanism in ceramic materials is the breaking of crack bridges during the unloading part of the loading cycle.…”

Influence of the Specimen Manufacturing Process on the Strength of Carbon‐Bonded Alumina (Al2O3–C)

“…If this condition is fulfilled, no interaction occurs between the flaws. [17] Previous investigations with different B3B set-ups and, therefore, different effective volumes support the existence of a size effect of slip cast specimens. [18] For specimens made by the spraying process, the same behavior is assumed.…”