Material Science II

Exercise 7
10.03.2009

Mechanical Properties of Ceramics

Question 1:
a) The breaking strengths of 40 equal Al2O3 samples and 40 equal metal samples were measured and listed in table
1. Determine the Weibull parameters m and 0 for the two series.
b) Which one of the series represents the Al2O3 samples and the metal samples? Why?
c) Calculate the design stress that would ensure a survival probability higher than 0.999 for both series.
d) Create a histogram for both series. Use a class width of 50 MPa for the 1st series and 1 MPa for the 2nd series.
How do you explain the differences between the two histograms?
Table 1. Breaking strength of two measuring series
Breaking strength series 1
[MPa]
413
491
190
334
500
600
432
387
254
404
487
515
504
235
429
630
493
290
440
497
552
267
409
472
549
390
605
435
351
512
399
301
456
553
316
485
502
355
487
510

Breaking strength series 2

[MPa]
205.5
202.0
194.7
206.1
207.0
208.1
196.6
203.5
206.5
208.4
206.7
195.3
205.0
205.7
203.8
198.3
206.3
204.5
207.4
207.1
199.2
202.6
205.2
207.0
207.3
208.3
200.1
201.9
205.5
204.9
206.2
206.8
207.3
207.9
202.1
205.9
200.8
202.3
203.9
202.3

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Material Science II

Exercise 7
10.03.2009

Mechanical Properties of Ceramics

Question 1a)
To determine m and 0, the Weibull plot for the data from both series has to be made. In order to form
the Weibull plot:
1. rank the results in order of increasing strength, 1, 2, 3, ....., j, j+1, ....N, where N is the total number
of samples.
2. determine the failure probability for each specimen according to F =

n 0.5
where n is rank
N

number of a sample, N is the total number of samples. (For example, the probability of survival of
the first specimen is (1-0.5)/40; and for the second (2-0.5)/40 as shown in Table 2 and
3. Table 3 for series 1 and 2, respectively.)
4. plot lnln(1/(1-Pf)) versus ln. The linear fit (y=mx+C) to the resulting line gives the Weibull
modulus, yielding slopes of m1 = 4.58, m2 = 70.37 (Figure 1).
5. calculate the 0 values according to the equation 0= exp(-C/m). 1,0 = 477 MPa, 2,0 = 206 MPa.
Table 2. Summary of data needed to find m and 0 from experimental results of series 1.
Sample Number
[-]

Strength
[MPa]

Probability of Failure F
[-]

lnln(1/(1-F))
[-]

ln
[-]

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36

190
235
254
267
290
301
316
334
351
355
387
390
399
404
409
413
429
432
435
440
456
472
485
487
487
491
493
497
500
502
504
510
512
515
549
552

0.0125
0.0375
0.0625
0.0875
0.1125
0.1375
0.1625
0.1875
0.2125
0.2375
0.2625
0.2875
0.3125
0.3375
0.3625
0.3875
0.4125
0.4375
0.4625
0.4875
0.5125
0.5375
0.5625
0.5875
0.6125
0.6375
0.6625
0.6875
0.7125
0.7375
0.7625
0.7875
0.8125
0.8375
0.8625
0.8875

-4.376
-3.264
-2.740
-2.391
-2.126
-1.911
-1.730
-1.572
-1.432
-1.305
-1.189
-1.082
-0.982
-0.887
-0.798
-0.713
-0.631
-0.553
-0.477
-0.403
-0.331
-0.260
-0.190
-0.122
-0.053
0.015
0.083
0.151
0.220
0.291
0.363
0.437
0.515
0.597
0.685
0.782

5.247
5.460
5.537
5.587
5.670
5.707
5.756
5.811
5.861
5.872
5.958
5.966
5.989
6.001
6.014
6.023
6.061
6.068
6.075
6.087
6.122
6.157
6.184
6.188
6.188
6.196
6.201
6.209
6.215
6.219
6.223
6.234
6.238
6.244
6.308
6.314

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Material Science II

Exercise 7
10.03.2009

37
38
39
40

553
600
605
630

0.9125
0.9375
0.9625
0.9875

Mechanical Properties of Ceramics

0.890
1.020
1.189
1.478

6.315
6.397
6.405
6.446

Table 3. Summary of data needed to find m and 0 from experimental results of series 2.
Sample Number
[-]

Strength
[MPa]

Probability of Failure F
[-]

lnln(1/(1-F))
[-]

ln
[-]

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40

194.7
195.3
196.6
198.3
199.2
200.1
200.8
201.9
202
202.1
202.3
202.6
203.4
203.5
203.8
203.9
204.5
204.9
205
205.2
205.4
205.5
205.7
205.9
206.1
206.2
206.3
206.5
206.7
206.8
207
207
207.1
207.3
207.3
207.4
207.9
208.1
208.3
208.4

0.0125
0.0375
0.0625
0.0875
0.1125
0.1375
0.1625
0.1875
0.2125
0.2375
0.2625
0.2875
0.3125
0.3375
0.3625
0.3875
0.4125
0.4375
0.4625
0.4875
0.5125
0.5375
0.5625
0.5875
0.6125
0.6375
0.6625
0.6875
0.7125
0.7375
0.7625
0.7875
0.8125
0.8375
0.8625
0.8875
0.9125
0.9375
0.9625
0.9875

-4.376
-3.264
-2.740
-2.391
-2.126
-1.911
-1.730
-1.572
-1.432
-1.305
-1.189
-1.082
-0.982
-0.887
-0.798
-0.713
-0.631
-0.553
-0.477
-0.403
-0.331
-0.260
-0.190
-0.122
-0.053
0.015
0.083
0.151
0.220
0.291
0.363
0.437
0.515
0.597
0.685
0.782
0.890
1.020
1.189
1.478

5.271
5.275
5.281
5.290
5.294
5.299
5.302
5.308
5.308
5.309
5.310
5.311
5.315
5.316
5.317
5.318
5.321
5.323
5.323
5.324
5.325
5.325
5.326
5.327
5.328
5.329
5.329
5.330
5.331
5.332
5.333
5.333
5.333
5.334
5.334
5.335
5.337
5.338
5.339
5.339

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Material Science II

Exercise 7
10.03.2009

Mechanical Properties of Ceramics

3
y = 70.369x - 374.85
R2 = 0.9703

y = 4.5766x - 28.231
R2 = 0.9864

lnln(1/(1-F))

0
5.0

5.3

5.5

5.8

6.0

6.3

6.5

6.8

7.0

-1
-2

-3

Alumina
Metal

-4

Linear (Alumina)
Linear (Metal)

-5
ln

Figure 1.Weibull plot of data shown in Table 2 and

Table 3.
For more detailed information, please see Excel file.
Question 1b)
Series 1: Alumina
Series 2: Metal.
We know that large m represents a narrow distribution which can be used to characterize a reliable
material, whereas small m gives a wide distribution which represents unreliable material.
Alumina: m = 4.58, 0 = 477 MPa
Metal: m = 70.37, 0 = 206 MPa
Question 1c)
For calculating the stress which will ensure a survival probability of 0.999, we can use the equation

m
1
PS = 1 Pf = exp , = 0 ln
0
PS

1
m

Thus, for series 1, will be 105.57 MPa, and for series 2 186.74 MPa.
Question 1d)
10
Alumina
Metal

Number of Samples [-]

0
100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Strength [MPa]

Figure 2. The histogram plot for Al2O3 and metal series.

In Figure 2, the alumina histogram shows a much wider strength distribution compared to the metal histogram.
This can also be seen in the difference in the Weibull moduli.

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Material Science II

Exercise 7
10.03.2009

Mechanical Properties of Ceramics

Question 2:
Which one of the materials listed below would be best suited for an application in which a part experiences sudden and
severe thermal fluctuations while in service?
Material
1
2
3

c
MPa
104
200
69

E
GPa
73
120
70

W/mK
1.4
3.3
1.4

0.17
0.25
0.20

*10-6 K-1
0.4
6.5
3.3

We can determine which material would be more suitable by comparing the thermal shock resistance
parameter of each material. We know that thermal shock resistance parameter R can be calculated
according to equation

R=

C (1 )

Thus, by putting the values given in the table we can calculate R for each material.
For material 1 (Fused Silica):

R1 =

104 106 N m 2 0.83

1.4 W m -1 K 1 = 4138.63 W/m
73 109 N m 2 0.4 106 K -1

For material 2 (Glass Ceramic_Pyroceram):

200 106 N m 2 0.75

R2 =
3.3 W m -1 K 1 = 634.62 W/m
9
2
-1
6
120 10 N m 6.5 10 K
For material 3 (Borosilicate_Pyrex):

R3 =

69 106 N m 2 0.8
1.4 W m -1 K 1 = 334.54 W/m
9
2
-1
6
70 10 N m 3.3 10 K

According to these results, we will choose material 1, which will be more resistant to
thermal shock with its high R value.

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