Fracture toughness of doped-ceria ceramics

Journal Article · Tue Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 1997 · Scripta Materialia

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-6462(96)00464-2· OSTI ID:477136

Shemilt, J E; Williams, H M; Edirisinghe, M J; Evans, J R.G.; Ralph, B ^[1]

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1. Brunel Univ., Uxbridge (United Kingdom). Dept. of Materials Engineering

Ceramic electrolytes based on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) are the state-of-the-art for the production of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). However, the cells must operate in the temperature range 800 to 1,000 C to achieve acceptable efficiencies and are limited in the choice of electrode materials and fabrication methods if undesirable reactions between the electrolyte and electrodes are to be avoided. In order to design optimum structures for SOFCs, and to be able to make predictions of service life-times, it is necessary to have reliable data on the mechanical properties of the component materials. There is little information on the fracture properties of doped-ceria ceramics in the published literature. The present study is an investigation of the fracture toughness of well-characterized samples of samaria-doped ceria ceramics, with compositions typical of those of interest for SOFC electrolytes, using both indentation fracture and single-edge notched beam (SENB) techniques. The materials studied here were all ceria solid solutions with the cubic fluorite structure and so were not expected to display anomalous K{sub c} values due to transformation toughening effects.

• OSTI ID: 477136
• Journal Information: Scripta Materialia, Journal Name: Scripta Materialia Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 36; ISSN 1359-6462; ISSN SCMAF7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CERIUM OXIDES
DOPED MATERIALS
FRACTURE MECHANICS
FRACTURE PROPERTIES
NOTCHES
SAMARIUM OXIDES
SERVICE LIFE
SOLID ELECTROLYTE FUEL CELLS
SOLID SOLUTIONS