For three important structural ceramics, vi~. sintered. alumina,
silicon carbide and silicon nitride, the present work compared
four methods of fracture toughness (K1<) evaluation, e.g. single
edge notched beam (SENB) technique, chevron notched beam
(CNB) technhJue, indentation fracture (IF) technique and
frnctogra))hic method (FM). Further, for a given method, the
influence of various experimental parameters such as blade
width, notch ti)) radius, normalized notch length and the loading
rate on the measured ':tlue of K10, was also evaluated. |