Tensile and cyclic fatigue behavior of SiC whisker-reinforced Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} at room and elevated temperatures

Uniaxial tensile and cyclic fatigue data are reported for a commercial grade of silicon carbide whisker-reinforced alumina matrix composite (SiC{sub w}/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) tested at room and elevated temperatures. The data show that addition of short SiC{sub w} (30 vol%) in Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} can significantly increase room temperature tensile strength and resistance to cyclic fatigue of monolithic Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} by {approximately} 40% and {approximately} 100%, respectively, bringing the high-cycle fatigue strength (> 10{sup 5} cycle range) to {approximately} 95% of its tensile strength. These dramatic improvements in tensile and fatigue behavior were attributed to the presence of SiC{sub w} which effectively inhibited cyclic fatigue crack growth. The composite further exhibited excellent retention of tensile and cyclic fatigue strengths at elevated temperatures as high as 1,000 C for practical engineering applications