Design and development of ring-on-ring jig for biaxial strength testing of brittle ceramic composite materials: ZrB₂-30wt-%SiB₆

ABSTRACT

The strength of brittle ceramic materials is typically tested using simple uniaxial compression or by three- or four-point bending techniques. While these methods provide reliable results, they do not depict a realistic characterisation of the load-bearing capacity of structural materials, and a method that involves the application of multiaxial stress is required, such as the ring-on-ring biaxial flexural strength test. In this paper, an in-house ring-on-ring fixture was developed and validated by comparing the experimental and simulated biaxial strength tests of a model ZrB₂-30wt-%SiB₆ ceramic composite. A description of the simulated finite element analysis is provided, and the stress field acting on the sample with maximum principal stress located at the surface under tension at the centre of the ceramic disk is shown.

KEYWORDS:

• Ring-on-ring
• biaxial flexural strength
• finite element method
• mechanical properties
• powder diffraction
• Spark plasma sintering
• Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy
• microstructure

Acknowledgement

Dr Yan Chen, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, help with the X-ray analysis of ZrB₂-30wt-%SiB₆ is greatly appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Demetrius A. Vazquez-Molina http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1986-3028

Fernando J. Uribe-Romo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0212-0295

Miladin Radovic http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4571-2848

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) MRI project ‘133775’ in the United States, NSF REU grant 1461202 awarded to Texas A&M University, and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [EP/K008749/1, XMat] in the United Kingdom.