Strength and Reliability of Porous Ceramics Measured by Sphere Indentation on Bilayer Structure

The importance of porous ceramics has been increasingly recognized and adequate strength of porous ceramics is now required for structural applications. Porosities of porous ceramics act as flaws in inner volume and outer surface which result in severe strength degradation. The effect of pore structure, however, on strength and reliability of porous ceramics has not been clearly understood. We investigate the relationship between pore structure and mechanical properties using a sphere indentation on bilayer structure, porous ceramic top layer with soft polymer substrate. Porous alumina and silica were prepared to characterize the isolated pore structure and interconnected pore structure, respectively. The porous ceramic with 1mm thickness were bonded to soft polycarbonate substrate and then fracture strengths were estimated from critical loads for radial cracking of porous ceramics during sphere indentation from top surface. This simple and reproducible technique provides Weibull modulus of strength of porous ceramics with different pore structure. It shows that the porous ceramics with isolated pore structure have higher strength and higher Weibull modulus as well, than those with interconnected pore structure even with the same porosity.