The effects of defects on the uniaxial compressive strength and failure of an advanced ceramic

This study investigates the effects of the processing-induced defect population on the dynamic compressive strength and failure of a hot-pressed boron carbide. Quantitative microscopic analysis was used to determine the distributions of three types of processing-induced inhomogeneities: aluminum nitride, small graphitic particles and pores, and larger graphitic disks. Scanning electron microscopy of fracture surfaces identifies the graphitic disks as fracture initiation sites. The size, orientation and number density of the graphitic disks are then quantified using image processing techniques. We use these defect statistics, in conjunction with recent scaling models, to explore our experimentally measured dynamic compressive strength results.