Study of Fracture Toughness of ZrO2 Ceramics.

The fracture toughness characteristics of ZrO2ceramics were determined experimentally using an original technique of wedging small-sized chevron notch specimens developed at the Institute of Strength Physics and Materials Science SB RAS (Russia) in the laboratory of physical mesomechanics of materials and non-destructive testing. Measurements have shown that inelastic displacements can be more than 22% of the total displacement of the consoles by the time of the specimen failure. The effect of the Y₂O₃ stabilizer on the critical stress intensity factor KIc was verified. It was shown that an increase in the Y₂O₃ stabilizer content from 3 to 8% significantly decreases the fracture toughness. The stress intensity factor KIc falls within the range from 5.7 to 2.35 MPa m^1/2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]