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Microstructure–Property Connections for Porous Ceramics: The Possibilities Offered by Micromechanics
Author(s) -
Bruno Giovanni,
Kachanov Mark
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/jace.14624
Subject(s) - micromechanics , microscale chemistry , microstructure , materials science , ceramic , porosity , stiffness , context (archaeology) , composite material , geology , mathematics , composite number , paleontology , mathematics education
Microstructure of porous ceramics is highly “irregular”: it comprises pores and microcracks of diverse shapes and orientations. This makes their quantitative modeling challenging, and one often resorts to empirical relations containing fitting parameters and having somewhat uncertain range of applicability. We review the substantial progress made in modeling of “irregular” microstructures that does not seem to have been sufficiently utilized in the context of ceramics. We discuss the possibilities offered by micromechanics in developing microstructure–property relations for porous microcracked ceramics. After an overview of relevant micromechanics topics, we focus on several issues of specific interest for ceramics: nonlinear stress–strain behavior, effective elastic properties, and thermally induced microcracking. We discuss extraction of microscale parameters (such as strength of the intergranular cohesion, density of cracks and pores, etc.) from macroscopic data and identify the extent of uncertainty in this process. We also argue that there is no quantitative correlation between fracturing process and the loss of elastic stiffness.