Hertzian ring crack initiation in hot-pressed silicon carbides

The use of Hertzian indentation to measure ring crack initiation force (RCIF) distributions in four hot-pressed silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics is described. Three diamond indenter diameters were used with each SiC; the RCIF in each test was identified with the aid of an acoustic emission system; and two-parameter Weibull RCIF distributions were determined for all 12 combinations. RCIF testing was found to be an effective discriminator of contact damage initiation and response. It consistently produced the same ranking of RCIF between the four SiCs, with all three different indenter diameters, which is noteworthy because Knoop hardness and fracture toughness measurements were only subtly different or equivalent for the four SiCs. However, because RCIF, like hardness, is a characteristic response of a target material to an applied indentation condition (e.g., a function of indenter diameter) and not a material property, the implications and possible limitations should be acknowledged when using RCIF to discriminate the target material response.