• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.240-250
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• 1995

Microcrack development in the macheon gabbro, the Sangju sandstone and the Jungsun marble due to fatigue stresses was investigated using differential strain analysis and microscopic observations from fluorescent-dyed thin sections. In the Macheon gabbro, various types of cracks, including gran boundary cracks, cleavage cracks, intragranular cracks adn intergranular cracks were developed. However, only grain boundary cracks were produced in the Sangju sandstone and the Jungsun marble due to fatigue stress. Many microcracks were produced due to fatigue stresses in the macheon gabbro. However, few microcracks were produced in the Sangju sandstone and the Jungsun marble. Fatigue stresses produced new microcracks in the Junngsun marble and the Macheon gabbro, but only pre-existing grain boundary cracks were lengthened in the Sangju snadstone. Most microcracks were produced within a few tens of numbers of cyclic loading, indicating that rocks under fatigue stresses will be damaged at the early stage of cyclic loading.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.76-84
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• 1985

Mechanical property enhancing mechanisms of $Al_2O_3-ZrO_2$ two phase ceramic composites were studied for several compositions of different $ZrO_2$/$Al_2O_3$ ratio. Microstructural analysis of $Al_2O_3-ZrO_3$(pure) composites indicated that pre-existing microcrack due to larger $ZrO_2$ particle at grain boundary extended along alumina grain boundaries within process zone. Microcracks also nucleated when very small $ZrO_2$ particles at the grain boundaries transformed to monoclinic phase at near of main crack tip. These types of microcracks could contribute to the toughening achieved by creating additional crack surface area during crack propagation. Microstructural analyses also showed that the average grain size and abnormal grain size of $Al_2O_3$ were decreased with increasing $ZrO_2$ vol% in $Al_2O_3$ matrix. As a result it could be concluded as follows In TEX>$Al_2O_3-ZrO_3$(pure) system 1. Microcrack nucleation (stress-induced microcracking) and extension was effective mechanism for absorpiton of fracture energy 2, More narrow distribution and smaller grain size of $Al_2O_3$ due to $ZrO_2$particles mainly contributed to main-tatin the strength and hardness.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.253-258
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• 2012

The characteristics of $Al_2TiO_5$ ceramics were influenced by the additives and the heat treatment that controls the microcrack behavior at grain boundaries. The effect of additives on $Al_2TiO_5$ ceramics were investigated in terms of mechanical properties and thermal expansion at high temperature. The $Al_2TiO_5$ were synthesized at $1500^{\circ}C$, $1550^{\circ}C$ and $1600^{\circ}C$ for 2h by reaction sintering. The formation of $Al_2TiO_5$ phase was increased by additives that enhanced the volume of the microcrack that can lead to low thermal expansion. The mechanical properties of the stabilized $Al_2TiO_5$ ceramics were increased remarkably at $1100^{\circ}C$, $1200^{\circ}C$ and $1300^{\circ}C$ due to the oneset of mechanical healing of grain-bondary microcracks at a high temperature. The amount of microcrack was decreased at lower sintering temperature that causes the increase of mechanical properties at high temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.1099-1107
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• 1998

In this study, the microstructure and electric conductivity of 5mol% $Gd_2O_3$-5mol% $Y_2O_3-ZrO_2$ system(5G5YZ) with a variation of sintering time at $1600^{\circ}C$ were investigated. By the result of TEM analysis of 5G5YZ sintered for 12h, a microcrack was observed near grain boundary. The change of the sintering time did not affect the lattice conductivity, but the grain boundary contribution was varied with the sintering time. The grain boundary conductivity of the sample sintered for 1h showed the highest value. Furthermore, the activation energy of the total conductivity was independent upon the sintering time and showed approximately 1.01eV. The highest conductivity measured at $1000^{\circ}C$ was 0.0197S/cm with the sample sintered for 1h. Comparing to 0h’s, the thickness ration of grain boundary as a function of sintering time were 0.88, 1.11 and 1.29 for 1h, 5h and 12h, respectively. In case of the sample sintered for 1h, the thickness of the grain boundary showed the lowest value. The increase of the sintering time over 1h made the decrease of the electric conductivity as well as the increase of the grain growth and the thickness of the grain boundary. As a result, it seemed that the proper sintering time for 5G5YZ composition was 1h.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.70-75
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• 1992

A model for a microstructural residual stress in a ferroelectric material is proposed. Based on this model, two facts are estimated. One of them is that the residual stress on a grain boundary is larger than that on a domain boundary. Another one is that the microstructural residual stress decrease with increasing grain size. These facts are confirmed by the microcrack morphology and the dependence of dielectric constant hysteresis between heating and cooling on grain size in $PbZr_{0.4}Ti_{0.6}O_3$ ceramics.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.307-314
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• 2002

The high temperature deformation behavior of the activated sintered W powder compacts was investigated. The W compact showed the relative density of 94% with the average W grain size of $23\mutextrm{m}$ by activated sintering at $1400^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour. Compression tests were carried out in the temperature range of $900-1100^{\circ}C$ at the strain rate range of $10^{0}$/sec - $10^{-3}$/sec. True stress-strain curve and microstructure exhibited the grain boundary brittleness which was dependent on the compression test temperature. The activated sintered W compact showed that the maximum stress as well as the strain at the maximum stress was abruptly decreased as the test temperature increase from $900^{\circ}C$ to 1000 and $1100^{\circ}C$ regardless of the strain rate. The discrepancy of the microstructure in the specimen center was obviously observed with the increase of the test temperature. After compression test at $900^{\circ}C$ the W grain was severely deformed normally against the compression axis. However, after compression test at $1000^{\circ}C$ and $1100^{\circ}C$ the W grain was not deformed, but the microcrack was formed in the W grain boundary. The Ni-rich second phase segregated along the W grain boundary could be partly unstable over $900^{\circ}C$ and affect the poor mechanical property of the activated sintered W compact.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.133-137
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• 2005

We fabricated the Au/Ni template for YBCO coated conductors and evaluated texture formation and the microstructural evolution. The cube textured Ni substrate was fabricated by rolling and recrystallization annealing, and subsequently Au layer formed on the substrate by electroless-plating method. The texture was evaluated by pole-figure with x-ray goniometer with orientation distribution function (ODF) analysis. The surface roughness and grain boundary morphology of template were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) We observed that Au layer deposited epitaxially on Ni substrate and formed a strong cube texture when plating time was optimized. The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) was $8.4^{\circ}$ for out-of-plane and $9.98^{\circ}$ for in-plane texture for plating time of 30 min. Microstructural observation showed that the Au layer was homogeneous and dense without formation of crack/microcrack. In addition, we observed that root-mean-square (RMS) and depth of grain boundary were 14.6 nm and 160 $\AA$ for the Au layer, respectively, while those were 27.0 nm and 800 $\AA$ for the Ni substrate, indicating that the electoless-plated Au layer had relatively smooth surface and effectively mollified grain groove.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.549-555
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• 1991

Mullite-zirconia (0∼4 mol% yttria) composites were obtained by In-situ sintering of zircon and alumina mixture, and their mechanical properties were studied in conjuction with microstructure observation. Martensitic transformation temperature (Ms) of zirconia dispersed in the mullite matrix decreased with Y2O3 contents and was about 600$^{\circ}C$ for ZrO2 containing 4 mol% Y2O3. On cooling of this composites, tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation induced microcracks at the grain boundary of mullite matrix. The microcracks seemed to absorb the fracture energy in stress field during mechanical tests. Therefore, toughening mechanisms of this composite were considered to nucleation and extension of microcrack, and crack deflection mechanism due to the difference of thermal expansion coefficient between matrix and dispersed phase.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.243-251
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• 1999

Granitic rock, by its nature, contains numerous micro-discontinuities including grain boundary, microcracks, microcavities and mineral cleavages. The brittle fracture of rock is a progressive procedure in which the failure occurs with prior microcracking. In this paper, initiation, propagation and interaction of microcracks are considered to be the dominant, controlling micromechanisms of macroscopic failure. The authors show a few patterns of microcrack initiation and propagation by using sequential photographs of water-saturated granite taken under triaxial compressive state. The failure process was observed directly and continuously by a newly developed triaxial compressive test system.