Introduction to Mechanical Behaviour of Ceramics

To evaluate the interest of the scientific community in assessing the mechanical properties of ceramics, a statistical review of the literature has been prepared. Starting from the analysis of the results of such an investigation, the fundamental ideas which contribute to define the mechanical behaviour of ceramics are discussed. The influence of different flaws, microstructure, environmental and time on the failure behaviour are briefly presented. The statistical an1ysis and the influence of the fabrication processes on the properties and reliability are mentioned. Several mechanisms for toughening ceramic materials are discussed. Effectively almost all the topics, that will be more deeply discussed by other authors, are reviewed in order to allow the reader to become familiar with the basic concepts regarding the mechanical behaviour of ceramics.