Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Strength of Brittle Materials in Moderately Corrosive Environments

Published

Author(s)

Robert F. Cook

Abstract

The strengths of four brittle materials―cordierite glass ceramic, fused silica, silicon, and polycrystalline alumina were measured after exposure to weakly-corrosive water and moderately- corrosive buffered HF (BHF) solution. Exposure to water did not alter the strengths in subsequent inert strength tests and decreased the strengths in reactive strength tests. Exposure to BHF increased the strengths in both tests, but only after an incubation exposure time. Prior to the incubation time, the BHF had the same effect as water, suggesting that the bond rupture kinetics were unaffected. Examination of the strength-controlling indentation flaws after the incubation time showed clear corrosive effects on the flaw geometry indicative of reductions in the indentation residual stress fields. The implication is that moderately corrosive environments increase the strength or lifetime of a brittle component by reducing the crack driving force via flaw alteration not, as perhaps expected, decrease the strength or lifetime through enhanced chemical reactivity.
Citation
Journal of the American Ceramic Society

Keywords

Strength, corrosion, indentation, glass-ceramic, silica, silicon, alumina

Citation

Cook, R. (2017), Strength of Brittle Materials in Moderately Corrosive Environments, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, [online], https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.15307 (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created October 30, 2017, Updated October 14, 2022