Characteristics of Machining Damage and Their Influence on Strength in Alumina Ceramics System

Abstract

Machining damage and its influence on strength was examined for alumina ceramics with various grain sizes, which were prepared by dry-pressing method with spray-dried granules, followed by sintering at 1350-1550°C for 2-27 hours. Grain sizes of the sintered bodies were 1-6μm. After machining at the same grinding force, specimens were placed in an alcohol solution of fluorescent dye and dried. The fracture strength was measured by 4 point bending. The machining flaws in the specimens were observed with a confocal scanning laser fluorescence microscope. Machining flaws appeared continuous, wide and deep in the specimen with small grain size, and discontinuous with large size. On ground surfaces, intra-grain fracture appeared on the surface, whereas inter-grain fracture dominates. The continuous, wide and deep flaws were attributed to the dissipation of stored energy associated with the cracks propagation. The result suggested that the stored energy on the machining process increased with decreasing grain size. The strength of the specimen with 1 μm grain size reduced from 500MPa to 250 MPa with machining damage. The strength depended remarkably on the depth of the machining damage.