Transformation toughening behavior of two edge cracks emanating from a circular hole in zirconia ceramics

The growth and fracture toughening behavior of two edge cracks emanating from a circular hole in zirconia toughened ceramics is analyzed in this paper. The supercritical model is adopted in this study to simulate the stress-induced phase transformation. The two edge cracks are of equal length and located symmetrically at the edge of the circular hole. The initial transformation zone is assessed with the model proposed by David. M. Stump. Then the growth of the two edge cracks in supercritical zirconia ceramics is simulated with computational methods. Numerical examples on the enhanced fracture toughness due to phase transformation are given under different material and geometry parameters