Related papers: A simple approach to bulk bioinspired tough cerami…
High strength and high toughness are usually mutually exclusive in engineering materials. Improving the toughness of strong but brittle materials like ceramics thus relies on the introduction of a metallic or polymeric ductile phase to…
We present an optimization-driven approach to creating a double-tough ceramic material with a brick-and-mortar microstructure, where the mortar is itself transformation-toughened, engineered with the goal of simultaneously achieving high…
The architectures of biological hard materials reveal finely tailored complex assemblies of mineral crystals. Numerous recent studies associate the design of these local assemblies with impressive macroscopic response. Reproducing such…
To respond to the increasing need for bone repair strategies, various types of biomaterials have been developed. Among those, calcium phosphate ceramics (CPCs) are promising since they possess a chemical composition similar to that of…
Glasses have numerous applications due to their exceptional transparency, however, poor fracture and impact resistance limit their applications as an engineering material. One relatively recent approach to improve the mechanical properties…
This is a reply to the correspondence of Prof. Robert Ritchie: "On the fracture toughness of bioinspired ceramic materials", submitted to Nature Materials, which discusses the fracture toughness values of the following papers: Bouville, F.,…
To overcome the brittleness limitation of ceramics, various toughening mechanisms have been proposed. Some of the most remarkable, especially for oxides, include the tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase transformation leading to crack shielding…
The results of dynamic strength tests of the alumina ceramics with various grain sizes are presented. The ceramics were obtained by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) of industrial submicron and fine Al2O3 powders. The heating up was performed…
Natural ceramic composites present complex microstructures that lead to tortuous crack paths and confer them high toughness. Current microreinforced composites do not yet reach the same level of complexity in their microstructures,…
Ceramics are easy to break, and very few generic mechanisms are available for improving their mechanical properties, e.g., the 1975-discovered anti-fracture mechanism is strictly limited to zirconia and hafnia. Here we report a general…
Preparation of particle-loaded foams, followed by drying, sintering and/or cross-linking are widely explored routes for developing lightweight ceramics with high mechanical strength. The non-sintered dry ceramic foams are less studied due…
As a result of evolution, many biological materials have developed irregular structures that lead to outstanding mechanical properties, like high stiffness-to-weight ratios and good energy absorption. To reproduce these properties in…
Composites are often made heterogeneous in nature to fulfill the functional demands imposed by the environment, but remain difficult to fabricate synthetically due to the lack of adequate and easily accessible processing tools. We report on…
Extrusion 3D-printing of biopolymers and natural fiber-based biocomposites allows for the fabrication of complex structures, ranging from gels for healthcare applications to eco-friendly structural materials. However, traditional polymer…
Most ceramic materials are known for high fracture toughness while reacting highly brittle to physical deformation. Some advancements were made by utilizing the transformation toughening effect of Yttria-doped Zirconia. However, finding a…
The work describes a numerical method to study the nature of compressive failure of porous ceramics in relation to its volume fraction. The microstructure of an alumina-based foam material manufactured by mechanical stirring of a slurry is…
Nanocrystalline metals and ceramics with <100 nm grain sizes and superior properties (e.g., mechanical strength, hardness, fracture toughness and stored dielectric energy) are of great interest. Much has been discussed about achieving nano…
Nowadays, additive manufacturing processes greatly simplify the production of openwork workpiece providing new opportunities for workpieces design. Based on Nature knowledge, a new bio-inspired workpiece structural optimization approach is…
Durable, high-performance and eco-friendly lead-free piezoceramics are essential for next-generation sustainable energy transducers and electromechanical systems. While significant performance enhancements have been made, through chemical…
Additive manufacturing of shape memory polymers has gained tremendous interest in recent years due to their versatile potential applications in various industries, such as biomedicine and aerospace. However, the polymers' mechanical…