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Investigation of R-Curve Behavior in Glass Ceramic Materials

Grutzik, Scott J.; Strong, Kevin T.; Dai, Steve X.

We demonstrate the ability to measure R-curves of brittle materials using a method adapted from Theo Fett et al. The method is validated with a NIST standard reference material and demonstrated using Si3N4 of two different microstructures; glass-ceramic, and PZT. As expected, each material's R-curve is seen to be sightly different with glass-ceramics showing the most pronounced R-curve effects. Plans for future applications and experimental efforts are discussed.