Fracture Toughness

The ability to resist fracture is a mechanical property of materials known as fracture toughness. For advanced ceramics it uses a critical stress intensity factor known as KIC where the fracture normally occurs at the crack terminations. The length of the defect and an understanding of the ceramic materials Young’s modulus is needed to measure the KIC. Fracture toughness is a critical metric as it determines how a material performs under given conditions. This is important as even in the highest quality ceramic its nearly impossible to guarantee that the end products are totally free from defects and therefore required to measure performance.

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Materials Ranked by Fracture Toughness

In terms of fracture toughness, Precision Ceramics CeramaZirc™ Ultra Tough is the clear winner outperforming regular Zirconia by 7 MPa m^1/2 – 17 MPa m^1/2 for CeramaZirc™ Ultra Tough vs. 10 MPa m^1/2 for Zirconia.

Zirconia (ZrO2) - CeramaZirc™ Ultra Tough

17 MPa m^1/2
CeramaZirc Ultra Tough is an exceptional advanced zirconia-based ceramic composite based on partially stabilized zirconia and alumina platelets. Developed initially for the oil and gas market, this material exhibits a strong combination of properties making it the most fracture tough ceramic we have ever developed.
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Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) – CeramaSil-N™ PCSN4000

8.5 MPa m^1/2
Silicon Nitride has the most versatile combination of mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of any advanced ceramic material.
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Zirconia (ZrO2) - CeramaZirc™ 3YZ

8 MPa m^1/2
A high purity material that offers high strength, wear resistance, and flexibility far beyond those of most other advanced ceramics.
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Zirconia (ZrO2) - CeramaZirc™ Nano HIP

8 MPa m^1/2
A hipped material made using nano grade powder, Zirconia offers high strength, wear resistance, and flexibility far beyond those of most other advanced ceramics.
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Alumina-Zirconia (ATZ) - CeramAlloy™ ATZ

8 MPa m^1/2
Alumina-Zirconia (ATZ) exhibits a combination of high hardness, strength, wear and corrosion resistance characteristic while maintaining reasonably high fracture toughness.
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Ceramic Material Comparison Chart

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Related Properties

Compressive Strength

Compressive strength is the capacity of a material to withstand loads tending to reduce size. Explained differently, compressive strength resists compression (being pushed together), whereas tensile strength resists tension (being pulled apart).

Fracture Toughness

The ability to resist fracture is a mechanical property of materials known as fracture toughness. For advanced ceramics it uses a critical stress intensity factor known as KIC where the fracture normally occurs at the crack terminations.

Flexural Strength

Flexural strength, also known as bending strength, modulus of rupture or transverse rupture strength, is defined as the maximum stress in a material just before it yields in a bending test

Fracture Toughness