MECHANICAL TESTING

Fatigue Testing of Ceramics - ASTM C 1361

"Standard Test Method for Constant-Amplitude, Axial, Tension-Tension Cyclic Fatigue of Advanced Ceramics at Ambient Temperatures"
ASTM C1361 is used to determine the constant-amplitude, axial tension-tension cyclic fatigue behavior and performance of advanced ceramics at ambient temperature to establish "baseline" cyclic fatigue performance.

High Strength, monolithic advanced ceramic materials are generally characterized by small grain sizes, (less than 50 microns) and bulk densities near the theoretical density. These materials are candidates for load-bearing structural applications requiring high degrees of wear and corrosion resistance and strength at high temperatures. Although flexural test methods are commonly used to evaluate dstrength of advanced ceramics, the non-uniform stress distribution in a flexure specimen limits the volume of material subjected to the maximum applied stress at fracture. Uniaxially-loaded tensile strength tests may provide information on strength-limiting flaws from a greater volume of uniformly stressed material.

Cyclic fatigue by its nature is a probabilistic phenomenon . In addition, the strengths of advanced ceramics are probabilistic in nature. Therefore, a sufficient number of specimens at each testing condition is required for statistical analysis and design.

This method may be used for material development, material comparison, quality assurance, characterization, reliability assessment and design data generation.

Index of Mechanical Testing