Temperature dependence of ceramics hardness

While the hardness of ceramics is well known to be a function of temperature, the present study will investigate the dependence of hot hardness on ceramics density. Ceramics with different composition, bonding and structure show similar hardness behavior in terms of energy density characteristic. Degradation in hardness with increasing temperature correlates well with thermal expansion behavior, so that materials with larger thermal expansion coefficients are expected to soften as their temperature rises. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Limited and Techna S.r.l. All rights reserved.