Statistical size scaling of ceramic strength

Abstract

This work is based on the belief that the uniform spatial distribution of flaws underlying Weibull statistics is not necessarily always true for all ceramics. The weakest-link statistics for a power-law spatial distribution of flaws is adopted to synchronize the size dependence and random variation of ceramic strength. Three sets of published strength data of ceramics from different sized specimens are used for this purpose. The assumption of power-law spatial distribution of flaws in ceramics is validated, with both uniform and nonuniform spatial distributions being showcased possible. For all the three case studies, there exists a master curve to correlate a compound parameter encompassing cumulative failure probability and size effect with the nominal fracture strength.