Mechanical Behaviour and Fracture Mechanics of Praseodymium Modified Lead Titanate Ceramics Prepared by Solid-State Reaction Route

The praseodymium modified lead titanate ceramics with composition where = 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.10 prepared by solid-state reaction technique were subjected to indentation induced hardness testing method. The indentations were induced in the applied load ranging from 0.245 N to 4.90 N. The microhardness varies nonlinearly with load and was best explained by the concept of Newtonian resistance pressure as proposed by Hays and Kendall’s law. Crack propagation, fracture toughness (), brittleness index (), and yield strength () were studied to understand the effect of Pr content on various mechanical parameters. The load independent values were found to increase with the increase in praseodymium content.