Investigation of mechanical properties of porous alumina ceramics: experiment and simulation

Abstract

Abstract The paper presents the experimental data on elastic and strength characteristics of specimens made of porous Al2O3 ceramics in three-point bending. Ceramics specimens were prepared by the slurry casting of commercially pure Al2O3 powder and subsequent sintering at the temperatures 1400, 1500, and 1600 °C. The simulation results were reported for the mechanical behaviour of specimens of porous Al2O3-based ceramics at the mesolevel. We studied the mesovolumes with an explicit treatment of pores loaded in uniaxial tension. The pore structure of the mesovolumes was borrowed from experimental SEM images. The mesoscopic fracture was described using the fracture criterion which includes the Lode parameter to make allowance for the stress state type. Despite wide scatter, the experimental and calculated elastic and strength characteristics of the material agree rather well.