Oxide ceramics are sensitive to slow crack growth because adsorption of water can take place at the crack tip, leading to a strong decrease of the surface energy in humid (or air) conditions. This is a major drawback concerning demanding, long-term applications such as orthopaedic implants. Here we show that a specific nanostructuration of ceramic oxides can lead to a crack resistance never reached before, similar to that of covalent ceramics.
@article{arxiv.1804.01393,
title = {Nanostructured Ceramic Oxides with a Slow Crack Growth Resistance Close to Covalent Materials},
author = {Jérôme Chevalier and Sylvain Deville and Gilbert Fantozzi and José F. Bartolomé and Carlos Pecharroman and José S. Moya and Luis A. Diaz and Ramon Torrecillas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1804.01393},
year = {2018}
}