Report on Session 1: Fracture of Ceramics with Process Zone

Abstract

In the three foregoing lectures, the subject of toughness increase of ceramic materials by the incorporation of fibers and platelets and by the formation of a process zone was dealt with. The various toughening mechanisms acting in brittle materials were presented and their quantitative predictions were compared with experimental observations. The papers demonstrated that there exists agreement with respect to a systematic classification of the fundamental ceramic toughening mechanisms discussed today in the literature. Consequently, the discussion of the papers which is reported here turned out to follow the same classification which shall briefly be reviewed in the following.