| Refractory ceramic materials such as zirconium diborides (ZrB2) have been excellent candidate materials for application in turbine blades, leading edge surfaces of high mach aircraft and high temperature applications. This is due to their good strength at high temperatures (T>1800°C). But questions on their ultimate durability at such temperatures remains an issue, especially with respect to foreign object impact damage as well as oxidation. Little characterization of such materials of the impact durability of such materials at very high temperatures has been performed - In this talk an experimental approach for the impact testing of ceramic materials at elevated temperatures is presented. In this investigation laser sintered specimens of ZrB2 are impacted with energies 111J - 194J at temperatures ranging from 500°C to 2000°C. At these temperatures it is evident that the materials exhibit a degree of ductility. In addition, an approach for using such experiments to calibrate explicit finite element simulations is also presented. |
