Tensile ceramic

Properties. Properties of stmctural siHcon nitride ceramics are given in Table 2. These values represent available, weU-tested materials. However, test methodology and the quaHty of the specimens, particularly their surface finish, can affect the measured values. Another important material property is tensile strength. Values obtained on Norton s NT154 material are 750 MPa at RT, 500 MPa at 1200°C, and 350 MPa (50,000 psi) at 1400°C (62). 

Vitahium FHS ahoy is a cobalt—chromium—molybdenum ahoy having a high modulus of elasticity. This ahoy is also a preferred material. When combiaed with a properly designed stem, the properties of this ahoy provide protection for the cement mantle by decreasing proximal cement stress. This ahoy also exhibits high yields and tensile strength, is corrosion resistant, and biocompatible. Composites used ia orthopedics include carbon—carbon, carbon—epoxy, hydroxyapatite, ceramics, etc. 

Nonoxide fibers, such as carbides, nitrides, and carbons, are produced by high temperature chemical processes that often result in fiber lengths shorter than those of oxide fibers. Mechanical properties such as high elastic modulus and tensile strength of these materials make them excellent as reinforcements for plastics, glass, metals, and ceramics. Because these products oxidize at high temperatures, they are primarily suited for use in vacuum or inert atmospheres, but may also be used for relatively short exposures in oxidizing atmospheres above 1000°C. 

Fracture Toughness. The fracture criterion was defined by a critical value of the crack tip stress intensity, known as the fracture toughness. Ceramics often fail ia pure tension, designated mode I, and Kj replaces ia equation 6. Thus die appHed tensile stress at which fracture... 

Fig. 3. Tensile stress—strain curve for (-) reinforced ceramic and ( " ) fiber-reinforced ceramic composite. A represents the point where the matrix...

Fig. 5. Tensile elongation vs time demonstrating creep behavior of ceramics. Section I is primary creep II, secondary or steady-state creep III, tertiary...

Most ceramics have enormous yield stresses. In a tensile test, at room temperature, ceramics almost all fracture long before they yield this is because their fracture toughness, which we will discuss later, is very low. Because of this, you cannot measure the yield strength of a ceramic by using a tensile test. Instead, you have to use a test which somehow suppresses fracture a compression test, for instance. The best and easiest is the hardness test the data shown here are obtained from hardness tests, which we shall discuss in a moment. 

As well as being a good way of measuring the yield strengths of materials like ceramics, as we mentioned above, the hardness test is also a very simple and cheap nondestructive test for (Ty. There is no need to go to the expense of making tensile specimens, and the hardness indenter is so small that it scarcely damages the material. So it can be used for routine batch tests on materials to see if they are up to specification on without damaging them. 

Fig. 17.2. Tests which measure the fracture strengths of ceramics, (a) The tensile test measures the tensile strength, CTj. (b) The bend test measures the modulus of rupture, o , typically 1.7 x CTj. (<) The compression test measures the crushing strength, a, typically 15 x...

The common tests are shown in Fig. 17.2. The obvious one is the simple tensile test (Fig. 17.2a). It measures the stress required to make the longest crack in the sample propagate unstably in the way shown in Fig. 17.3(a). But it is hard to do tensile tests on ceramics - they tend to break in the grips. It is much easier to measure the force required to break a beam in bending (Fig. 17.2b). The maximum tensile stress in the surface of the beam when it breaks is called the modulus of rupture, o for an elastic beam it is related to the maximum moment in the beam, M by... 

One way of measuring thermal shoek resistanee is to drop a piece of the ceramic, heated to progressively higher temperatures, into cold water. The maximum temperature drop AT (in K) which it can survive is a measure of its thermal shock resistance. If its coefficient of expansion is a then the quenched surface layer suffers a shrinkage strain of a AT. But it is part of a much larger body which is still hot, and this constrains it to its original dimensions it then carries an elastic tensile stress EaAT. If this tensile stress exceeds that for tensile fracture, <7js, the surface of the component will crack and ultimately spall off. So the maximum temperature drop AT is given by... 

In order to test the strength of a ceramic, cylindrical specimens of length 25 mm and diameter 5 mm are put into axial tension. The tensile stress a which causes 50% of the specimens to break is 120 MPa. Cylindrical ceramic components of length 50 mm and diameter 11 mm are required to withstand an axial tensile stress with a survival probability of 99%. Given that m = 5, use eqn. (18.9) to determine oh... 

Describe briefly how the tensile strength of ceramic materials is determined by their microstructures. How may the tensile strength of ceramics be improved ... 

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