Role of Cracks in the Creep Deformation of Polycrystalline Structural Ceramics
Abstract
A study was conducted concerning the role of cracks in the creep deformation and fracture behavior of polycrystalline structural ceramics. Grain boundary cavitation during creep in a course-grained alumina was found to cause a decrease in Young's modulus by as much as a factor of five, indicative of the contribution from elastic creep by crack growth and crack-enhanced creep to the total creep deformation. Multiple crack formation in a fine-grained alumina was found to increase the strain-rate sensitivity of the failure stress, as the result of strain-rate dependent decreases in Young's modulus. For alumina with glassy grain boundary phase, the one-to-one correlation between creep rate and time-to-failure presented evidence for crack enhanced creep fracture. Silicon carbides whisker-reinforcement of aluminum oxides was found to suppress cavitation, coupled with an increase in the stress exponent. A micromechanical analysis of this effect indicated that creep deformation of SiC whisker- reinforced alumina appears to be governed by stress-dependent sliding at whisker-matrix interfaces.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 30, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA238817
Entities
People
- A. Venkateswaran
- D. P. Hasselman
- K. Y. Donaldson
Organizations
- Virginia Tech