Size Effect in Fracture of Ceramics and Its Use To Determine Fracture Energy and Effective Process Zone Length

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Abstract
The paper shows that a previously proposed size effect law can be used to identify nonlinear fracture properties solely from measured maximum loads of geometrically similar ceramic fracture specimens of sufficiently different sizes. This law represents a first‐order global approximation of the deviations from linear elastic fracture mechanics, independent of the type of the toughening mechanism in the fracture process zone. It provides a simple and unambiguous way to determine the size‐ and shape‐independent values of the fracture energy the effective length of the process zone, and the effective crack‐tip opening displacement. It also yields the R curve, which is geometry (shape) dependent. The proximity of response to linear elastic fracture mechanics is characterized by a brittleness number, which is shape independent.

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