Investigation on the microcrcaks strengthening effect in the damage behavior of Al2TiO5 flexible ceramics based on the AE

In this study, the effect of microcrcaks strengthening on damage evolution of Al 2 TiO 5 (AT) flexible ceramics was investigated by acoustic emission (AE). Results reveal that with increasing content of ZrO 2 , the strength of AT flexible ceramics improves gradually and the strain increases at first then decreases. When the content of ZrO 2 is 12% and 8%, the strength and strain at maximum stress are increased by 154.92% and 38.27%, respectively. In addition, thanks to the “strengthening effect” of ZrTiO 4 on grain boundary microcracks, the damage development thresholds ( σ min and σ onset ), elastic modulus and fracture toughness of AT flexible ceramics modified with ZrO 2 are significantly improved. Moreover, the visible transverse cracks and matrix shedding in ATZ-0 are the most, but the cumulative AE damage events in ATZ-8 and ATZ-4 are more than ATZ-0 at late stage, for which the fracture of ZrTiO 4 glass phase and crack branching induced by ZrTiO 4 should be responsible.