Fracture behaviour of alumina and zirconia thin layered laminate

Laminates with strong bonds between thin layers were examined in this work to explore the influence of developed internal stresses on the fracture behaviour. A set of laminates having different level of internal stresses were prepared. Alumina and zirconia were the model materials for evenly alternating layers. The electrophoretic deposition technique was used for manufacturing of the laminates. The basic mechanical properties as elastic modulus and flexural strength were determined for all prepared materials. The crack propagation changes due to effect of internal stresses, elastic mismatch and surface effects were investigated using modified single edge notched beam technique. An extensive fractographical analysis of fracture surfaces was undertaken using laser confocal microscopy. The changes of the crack direction when crack propagates through alternating layers under different angels were described. Further, the effect of the internal stresses level within individual layers was reported.