NIST Standard Reference Database 138
Last Update to Data Content: 1998
Reference: NIST Structural Ceramics Database
Other material collections: Property Data Summaries
Other Toughness materials
[Ref. 1-9] [Ref. 10] [Ref. 11] [Ref. 12]
Manufacturer........: Unknown Smith Industries NRL Avco Corp.
Material Designation: alumina alumina alumina alumina
Material Form.......: polycrystal polycrystal polycrystal polycrystal
Composition.........: Al2O3 Al2O3 99% Al2O3 98.7% Al2O3
Processing..........:
[Ref. 13,14] [Ref. 15,16]
Manufacturer........: Unknown In laboratory
Material Designation: alumina alumina
Material Form.......: single crystal polycrystal
Composition.........: Al2O3 Al2O3
Processing..........: sintered
[1] D. B. Binns and P. Popper, "Mechanical Properties of Some Commercial Alumina Ceramics" Proceedings of the British Ceramic Society, No. 6, pp. 71-82 (1966).
[2] P. L. Pratt, "Grain Size and Fracture Toughness," Fracture, Vol. 3, pp. 909-912 (1977).
[3] R. W. Rice, S. W. Freiman, and P. F. Becher, "Grain-Size Dependence of Fracture Energy in Ceramics: I, Experiment," Journal of the American Cermic Society, Vol. 64, No. 6, pp. 345-350 (1981).
[4] H. Meredith and P. L. Pratt, "The Observed Fracture Stress and Measured Values of K(Ic) in Commercial Polycrystalline Aluminas" Proceedings of the British Ceramic Society, No. 20, pp. 107-122 (1972).
[5] S. S. Smith and B. J. Pletka, "Indentation Fracture of Single Crystal and Polycrystalline Aluminum Oxide" Fracture Mechanics of Ceramics, Vol. 6, pp. 189-209 (1983).
[6] N. Claussen, B. Mussler, and M. V. Swain, "Grain-Size Dependence of Fracture Energy in Ceramics" Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 65, No. 1, pp. C-14-C-16 (1982).
[7] K. Kromp and R.F. Pabst, "Application of the J Concept to Alumina at High Temperatures" Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 66, No. 2, pp. 106-110 (1983).
[8] G. De With, "Fracture of Translucent Alumina: Temperature Dependence and Influence of CaO Dope" Journal of Materials Science, Vol. 19, pp. 2195-2202 (1984).
[9] B. Mussler, M. V. Swain, and N. Claussen, "Dependence of Fracture Toughness of Alumina on Grain Size and Test Technique" Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 65, No. 11, pp. 566-572 (1982).
[10] B.J. Dalgleish, A. Fakhr, P. L. Pratt, and R. D. Rawlings, "Acoustic Emission as a Means of Assessing the Validity of Fracture Toughness Tests" Proceedings of the Institute of Acoustics, pp. 1-5 (1977).
[11] J. J. Mecholsky, S. W. Freiman, and R. W. Rice, "Fracture Surface Analysis of Ceramics" Journal of Materials Science, Vol. 11, pp. 1310-1319 (1976).
[12] G. K. Bansal, "Effects of Ceramic Microstructure on Strength and Fracture Surface Energy" Microstructures, Proceedings of the Sixth International Materials Symposium, pp. 860-871 (1976).
[13] D. K. Shetty, A. R. Rosenfield, and W. H. Duckworth, "Fracture Toughness of Ceramics Measured by a Chevron-Notch Diametral-Compression Test" Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 68, No. 12, pp. C-325-C-327 (1985).
[14] M. Iwasa and R.C. Bradt, "Fracture Toughness of Single-Crystal Alumina," Advances in Ceramics, Vol. 10, pp. 767-779 (1984).
[15] J. Wang, W.M. Rainforth, T. Wadsworth, and R. Stevens, "The Effects of Notch Width on the SENB Toughness for Oxide Ceramics," Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Vol. 10, pp. 21-31 (1992).
[16] W.H. Tuan, M.J. Lai, M.C. Lin, C.C. Chan, and S.C. Chiu, "The Mechanical Performance of Alumina as a Function of Grain Size," Materials Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 36, pp. 246-251 (1994).
Temperature = 23 °C
Grain Porosity Fracture Fracture Measurement Measurement Comments
Size Toughness Energy Method Environment
[µm] [%] [MPa·m1/2] [J/m2]
------ -------- ------------ --------- ----------- ----------- ----------------------------
air Ref. 1; purity (mass fraction of Al2O3)
50 0 36 WOF 99.9%
4 1 34 WOF 99.5%
15 54 WOF 99.2%
25 54 WOF 99.0%
5 2 30 WOF 95.6%
20 3 29 WOF 98.6%
10 48 WOF 98.5%
30 5 53 WOF 97.3%
10 11 25 WOF 95.4%
5 9 51 WOF 94.5%
8 8 40 WOF 94.1%
8 7 40 WOF 94.0%
4 9 40 WOF 93.1%
15 8 29 WOF 92.9%
10 12 51 WOF 93.1%
8 13 48 WOF 87.8%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 5.5 DCB air Ref. 2
10 5.0 DCB
20 4.9 DCB
20 6.4 DCB
4 5.1 DT
10 5.2 DT
20 5.2 DT
4 5.0 SEPB Firings repeated manually to
obtain coarser grain sizes.
10 4.7 SENB
20 4.0 SENB
4 4.5 SENB Firings repeated manually to
obtain coarser grain sizes.
Sample was blunt-notched.
10 4.2 SENB
20 4.1 SENB
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
120 4.6 AMDCB air Ref. 3
200 22.5 AMDCB
400 6 AMDCB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.5 11 4.56 SENB air Ref. 4; Material isostatically cold
pressed; starter cracks
were used; and E = 337 GPa
5.01 CT
4.70 DCB
5.0 19 3.13 SENB E = 227 GPa
3.32 CT
3.12 DCB
12.0 21 2.68 SENB E = 253 GPa
2.77 CT
2.70 DCB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 2.36 ICS oil Ref. 5; E = 415 GPa
9 4.38 ICS E = 369 GPa
2 5.73 SENB
9 4.35 DT
18 6.81 DT
1.91 ICS single crystal
2.66 ICS single crystal
2.61 ICS single crystal
1.68 ICS single crystal
2.04 ICS single crystal
2.08 ICS single crystal
2.13 ICS single crystal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.5 38 SENB air Ref. 6; the fracture energy value
is an approximate value.
6 25 SENB
13.5 27 SENB
18 21.5 SENB
24 20 SENB
30 21 SENB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11 3.8 SENB air Ref. 7; 97.0 % Al2O3
+ 3.0 % SiO2; E = 350 GPa
6 3.73 SENB 99.7 % Al2O3
+ 0.3 % MgO, SiO2; E = 389 GPa
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23 0.06 3.71 SENB N2 Ref. 8; 0.0092% MgO,
0.0002% CaO; E = 406 GPa
0.08 3.28 SENB 0.0092% MgO,
0.0041% CaO; E = 397 GPa
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
31.4 3.9 SENB air Ref. 9; Notch radius = 70 µm
31.4 4.0 SENB
30.7 3.8 SENB
30.7 4.1 SENB
30.5 3.9 SENB
29.0 4.05 SENB
24.0 4.0 SENB
23.0 3.95 SENB
18.0 4.0 SENB
14.5 4.5 SENB
12.9 4.5 SENB
12.5 4.5 SENB
9.0 4.2 SENB
8.8 4.55 SENB
6.9 4.65 SENB
5.7 4.1 SENB
5.0 4.25 SENB
5.0 4.3 SENB
5.0 4.5 SENB
5.0 4.7 SENB
4.0 5.15 SENB
3.0 4.3 SENB
3.0 4.5 SENB
3.0 4.9 SENB
3.0 5.0 SENB
3.0 5.35 SENB
2.0 5.15 SENB
2.0 5.25 SENB
2.0 5.8 SENB
2.0 5.85 SENB
2.0 5.9 SENB
1.7 5.75 SENB
1.4 6.25 SENB
1.4 6.05 SENB
1.4 5.9 SENB
30.0 3.6 SENB
12.9 4.1 SENB
3.0 4.5 SENB
2.0 5.3 SENB
1.7 4.85 SENB
1.4 5.3 SENB
30.0 5.45 IS Notch radius = 40 µm
24.0 5.1 IS
23.5 5.3 IS
18.0 5.2 IS
14.5 5.3 IS
12.5 5.25 IS
8.5 4.75 IS
8.0 4.5 IS
7.0 4.2 IS
5.0 4.0 IS
5.0 4.15 IS
5.0 4.25 IS
2.0 4.3 IS
1.5 3.75 IS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4-6 3.95 SENB air Ref. 10
10-12 3.51 SENB
4-6 4.13 DT
4-6 5.4 DCB
10-12 5.0 DCB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1-10 20 AMDCB air Ref. 11; Material hot pressed;
and E = 300 GPa
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 0.5 42.2 SENB air Ref. 12
21.2 SENB
20.1 SENB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1 DT dry N2 Ref. 13; H = 23.0 GPa
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.6 CF air Ref. 14; (0001) crystal plane
3.2 CF (10-10)
2.5 CF (11-20)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.6 4.1 SENB air Ref. 15; 260 µm notch width
2.6 3.5 SENB 510 µm
2.6 3.2 SENB 800 µm
2.6 3.3 SENB 1800 µm
4.2 4.6 SENB 260 µm
4.2 4.3 SENB 510 µm
4.2 4.3 SENB 800 µm
4.2 4.5 SENB 1800 µm
6.3 5.5 SENB 260 µm
6.3 4.6 SENB 510 µm
6.3 4.9 SENB 800 µm
6.3 4.3 SENB 1800 µm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.8 1.8 3.0 SEPB air Ref. 16
1.9 2.1 3.4 SEPB
2.3 1.9 3.7 SEPB
3.1 1.5 4.4 SEPB
5.4 2.3 4.9 SEPB
8.7 1.5 4.9 SEPB
13.3 1.7 5.0 SEPB
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