Temperature dependence of hardness prediction for high-temperature structural ceramics and their composites

Abstract

Abstract Hardness is one of the important mechanical properties of high-temperature structural ceramics and their composites. In spite of the extensive use of the materials in high-temperature applications, there are few theoretical models for analyzing their temperature-dependent hardness. To fill this gap in the available literature, this work is focused on developing novel theoretical models for the temperature dependence of the hardness of the ceramics and their composites. The proposed model is just expressed in terms of some basic material parameters including Young’s modulus, melting points, and critical damage size corresponding to plastic deformation, which has no fitting parameters, thereby being simple for materials scientists and engineers to use in the material design. The model predictions for the temperature dependence of hardness of some oxide ceramics, non-oxide ceramics, ceramic–ceramic composites, diamond–ceramic composites, and ceramic-based cermet are presented, and excellent agreements with the experimental measurements are shown. Compared with the experimental measurements, the developed model can effectively save the cost when applied in the material design, which could be used to predict at any targeted temperature. Furthermore, the models could be used to determine the underlying control mechanisms of the temperature dependence of the hardness of the materials.