Ceramic reinforcement, dispersion-reinforced glass matrices

One important field of application for dispersion-reinforced glass matrix composites is as biomaterials for implants and in orthopaedics. Bioactive sihcate and phosphate glasses and glass-ceramics are toughened by incorporating biocompatible second phases, for example titanium, silver or stainless steel particles or chopped fibres [20,24,54,76,77]. 

Dispersion-Reinforced Glass and Glass-Ceramic Matrix Composites... 

TABLE 1. Examples of dispersion-reinforced glass and glass-ceramic matrix composite systems... 

DISPERSION-REINFORCED GLASS AND GLASS-CERAMIC MATRIX COMPOSITES... 

Glass and glass-ceramic composite materials with alternative designed microstmctures have received much less attention in the past than their classic counterparts, namely dispersion-reinforced and continuous fibre-reinforced glass and glass-ceramic matrix composites (discussed in the previous Chapters 20 and 19, respectively). Due to their particular microstmcture, these composites may display a range of properties not achievable with... 

Table 1 shows a compilation of typical mechanical properties of different glass-containing composite systems discussed above. The properties should be compared with those of traditional glass and glass-ceramic matrix composites with dispersion or fibre reinforcement, discussed in Chapters 20 and 19, respectively. Although the principal effort has been in developing composites with improved mechanical properties, in particular fracture... 

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