More Realistic Methods for Mechanical Testing of Hard Materials

Abstract

The different objectives of scientists and industry in testing hard materials create conditions where laboratory tests are developed which are unrealistic because they are too sophisticated for general use by industry or they are irrelevant to properties required in service. Using the example of applications where fracture is a dominant failure mechanism, some developments in simplifying the procedures for determining fracture toughness parameters and for measuring properties of edges are described. PM/0413