Knoop hardness-apparent yield stress relationship in ceramics

Jeffrey J. Swab, Andrew A. Wereszczak, Kevin T. Strong, Dominic Danna, Jerry C. Lasalvia, Meredith E. Ragan, Patrick J. Ritt

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17 Scopus citations

Abstract

In Tabor's classical studies of the deformation of metals, the yield stress (Y) and hardness (H) were shown to be related according to H/Y ≈ 3 for complete or fully plastic deformation. Since then it has been anecdotally shown for ceramics that this ratio is <3. Interest exists to explore this further so Hertzian indentation was used to measure the apparent yield stress of numerous ceramics and metals and their results were compared with each material's load-dependent Knoop hardness. The evaluated ceramics included standard reference materials for hardness (silicon nitride and tungsten carbide), silicon carbide, alumina, and glass. Several steel compositions were also tested for comparison. Knoop hardness measurements at 19.6 N (i.e., toward "complete or fully plastic deformation"), showed that 2 < H/Y < 3 for the metals and 0.8 < H/Y < 1.8 for the glasses and ceramics. Being that H/Y ≠ 3 for the ceramics indicates that Tabor's analysis is either not applicable to ceramics or that full plastic deformation is not achieved with a Knoop indentation or both.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)650-655
Number of pages6
JournalInternational Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology
Volume9
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012

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