Influence of Shear Bands on Creep Rupture in Ceramics

Abstract
Observations of damage during the creep rupture of poly‐crystalline alumina have revealed an important influence of shear bands on the failure process. The shear bands are regions of appreciable damage, consisting of high densities of facet‐sized cavities. The cavities within the bands become crack nuclei at shear band intersections and crack coalescence sites during the final stage of failure. Further understanding of shear bands and shear band damage is needed to permit the development of quantitative expressions for the rupture times measured for this material.