Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Factors influencing the toughening behavior of whisker reinforced ceramics

Conference ·
OSTI ID:7256961
Whisker reinforced ceramics exhibit substantial improvements in fracture toughness and other mechanical properties as compared to the unreinforced ceramics. In many of the whisker reinforced ceramics, enhanced toughness is derived from bridging of the crack by the strong whiskers. An analysis of the whisker bridging contribution reveals that the toughness is a function of the whisker strength, radius, and volume content, the ratio of the Young's modulus of the composite to that of the whisker, and the ratio of the fracture energy of the matrix to that of the whisker-matrix interface. Recent studies show that the analysis based on whisker bridging quantitatively describes the experimentally observed toughening that results from whisker reinforcement. 9 refs., 1 fig.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
7256961
Report Number(s):
CONF-8806103-1; ON: DE88011396
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English