INTRODUCTION TO MECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR OF CERAMICS

Prefazione - Indice

Prefazione

A few years ago I received telephone calls from Italian colleagues at Universities and Research Institutes asking me to let them visit the mechanical testing laboratory at the Research Institute far Ceramics Technology (IRTEC). They were mostly metallurgists or mechanical engineers with very little experience in ceramics but they wanted to leam more about the mechanical properties of these materials and how to carry out mechanical tests on them.
After several visits and discussion, I realized that it was lime to create an opportunity to promote tbe discussion and exchange of information among experts in this field and researchers about to start work on ceramics. For this reason I decided to organize a course on the mechanical behaviour of ceramics in arder to satisfy these diverse requests and provide a more complete and organic overview of this topic.
Since, at that lime colleagues from the University of Lecce were organizing a Summer School in South of Italy (Seminario di Lecce) on advanced ceramics, we agreed to include our corse in framework of that meeting.
This book contains most of the talks given at that course, held in Serra Alimini in September 1990, by invited speakers recognized as intemational experts in this field.
However, since that lime, several papers bave been reviewed or added recently, so that they also contain new results and discussion regarding the different topics. The book includes general overviews on the mechanical behaviour of ceramics at room and high temperature as well as analyses of specific problems. Specificately it includes topics such as: introduction to the mechanical behaviour of ceramics; elasticity; fracturemechanics; strength-controlling flaws in ceramics; identation technique; reliability and statistical analysis of data; creep; thermal shock resistance; toughening mechanisms; composites; erosion; wear and friction; standardization of mechanical tests.
I am very grateful to the authors far their valuable cooperation, for witbout them the subject could not bave been documented. Thanks afe also due to the organizing committee and the many people who contributed to the succes of this very stimulating workshop. I particulary aknowledge the cooperation of my colleagues Stefano Guicciardi and Cesare Melandri who helped me in preparing this book.


Goffredo de Portu


December 1992 Faenza, Italy