Residual stress profile in ceramic laminates

Tape casting followed by high temperature compaction and sintering can be used for the production of ceramic laminates with a very high fracture toughness compared to their bulk counterpart. These enhanced properties can be obtained by Suitable choice of the layers to be co-sintered in order to obtain a particular residual stress profile in the final corriportent. The stress profile can be accurately measured by ineans of synchrotron radiation diffraction in energy-dispersive fixed-gauge-volurne serup. The data for a set of alumina/zirconia/mullite laminates of ca. 1mm thickness, made of layers as thin as ca. 40 mu m are here presented and the results compared with theoretical predictions. In addition to the average stress profile, diffraction allowed to establish the stress in each of the different phases constituting the layers, thus showing coupling between the grains present therein.