Brittle fracture
A crack runs through a ceramic block in one uninterrupted path, the mark of failure with no plastic warning before it.
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Ceramics
15 animationsCrack arrest
A crack runs forward and stops dead against a toughening particle instead of continuing through the body.
CSSFiring schedule
A kiln temperature curve draws itself across the axes: ramp up, a dwell at peak, and a controlled ramp back down.
CSSGlass transition
Stiffness holds flat on a glassy plateau, then falls away sharply once the material draws past its glass transition temperature.
CSSGlaze flow
An unevenly applied glaze levels itself flat across the substrate as firing carries it past its melting point.
CSSGrain boundary
The shared edge between two grains creeps sideways under sustained load while the grains themselves keep their shape.
CSSHardness indent
A pyramid indenter presses into the surface and withdraws, leaving a small diamond impression to measure.
CSSPore collapse
Isostatic pressure closes a trapped pore from every side at once until no void is left to measure.
CSSPorosity scan
A scan line sweeps across a fired body dotted with pores, reading how much void space the microstructure holds.
CSSRefractory erosion
The hot face of a furnace lining wears inward toward the cooler backing layer, the front marking how much thickness remains.
CSSSintering
Two powder grains hold their shape while the pore between them closes as heat densifies the compact.
CSSSpalling
A fragment breaks free of the hot face and falls away from the refractory lining, thinning it from the inside.
CSSThermal shock
A quenched edge snaps a crack through the body almost at once, far faster than the slow crack of ordinary overload.
CSSVitrification
A glassy phase spreads to fill the interstices between crystalline grains as firing carries the body past its melting range.
CSSWeibull scatter
A new strength reading drops onto the plot below the rest of the scatter, the single weak flaw that sets the batch's rating.
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