The analysis of CuO-doped 3Y-TZP by using indentation fracture toughness methods.

Indentation Fracture (IF) Method is commonly used to determine the fracture toughness of ceramic materials. However, different researchers, such as Evans and Charles, Niihara et al., B.R Lawn et al., Anstis et al., and Shetty et al., had proposed the respective analysis models, but and all the analysis are related to the parameters like cracking length (c) and indent length (2a). The ratio of c/a is used to differentiate between Palmqvist and Median (half-penny) cracking profiles during fracture toughness evaluation. In this study, three analysis models, including the Evans and Charles et al. (EC model), Shetty et al. (Shetty Model), and Evans and Wilshaw et al. (EW Model) models, were used to evaluate the fracture toughness of 3Y-TZP and CuO-doped 3Y-TZP while following the rule that c/a ≤ 2.5 indicates a Palmqvist cracking profile. The results were compared and verified, and it was found that the EC model and Shetty model displayed consistent output result of fracture toughness the mentioned materials. Based on two analysis models, the evaluation also revealed that the optimal fracture toughness can be achieved by doping CuO at ≤ 0.2 wt.% and using conventional sintering methods at sintering temperatures below 1400°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]