Cyclic Fatigue in Ceramics

Abstract

Cyclic fatigue in ceramics is reviewed, focusing on recent research. Several cyclic fatigue mechanisms hereby proposed are summarized briefly in section 3. In section 4, fatigue characteristics of all available materials are explained. Alumina, silicon nitride and lead zirconate titanate (PZT)are prone to cyclic fatigue degradation, but silicon carbide, mullite, lead titanate (PT), β-alumina and glass are not. The rough fracture surface typical of intergranular fracture seems to be a key factor in judging cyclic fatigue degradation, except in the case of transformation-toughened zirconia. The cyclic fatigue mechanism based on cyclic degradation of the bridging effect is supported by substantial experimental evidence. The cyclic fatigue mechanism, which is based on the premise that the crack resistance caused by microcrack branching or crack-path deflection during tensile loading and the crack reactivation due to the asperity contacts during unloading occurs repeatedly, seems to be promising also.