A preceding study of the competition between fracture modes in monolithic brittle materials in cyclic loading with curved indenters in liquid environments is here extended to brittle layers on compliant substrates. The fracture modes include outer and inner cone cracks and radial cracks that initiate from the near-contact zone and penetrate downward. Outer cone cracks are driven by stresses from superposed Hertzian and plate flexure fields; inner cone cracks also grow within these fields but are augmented by mechanical driving forces from hydraulic pumping into the crack fissures. Radial cracks are augmented by mechanical driving forces from developing quasiplasticity zones beneath the indenter. Basically, the crack-growth rates are governed by a crack velocity relation. However, the hydraulic and quasiplastic mechanical forces can cumulate in intensity with each cycle, strongly enhancing fatigue. Plate flexure generates compressive stresses at the top surface of the brittle layer, somewhat inhibiting the initiation, and tensile stresses at the lower surface, strongly enhancing the far-field propagation. The tensile stresses promote instability in the crack propagation, resulting in through-thickness penetration (failure). Experiments on a model bilayer system consisting of glass plates bonded to thick polycarbonate bases are presented as an illustrative case study. In situ observations of the crack evolution from initial growth to failure reveal that each fracture mode can dominate under certain test conditions, depending on plate thickness, maximum load, and sphere radius. Implications concerning the failure of practical layer systems, notably dental crowns, are discussed.

A study is made of top-surface cracks induced in brittle trilayers by cyclic indentation with a hard sphere in water. The trilayers consist of an external brittle layer (veneer) fused to an inner stiff and hard ceramic support layer (core), in turn adhesively bonded to a thick compliant base (substrate). These structures are meant to simulate essential aspects of dental crowns, but their applicability extends to a range of engineering coating systems. The study follows on from like studies of brittle monoliths and brittle-plate/soft-substrate bilayers. Competing fracture modes in the outer brittle layer remain the same as before: outer and inner cone cracks and radial cracks, all of which form in the near-contact zone and propagate downward toward the veneer/core interface. Inner cone cracks and radial cracks are especially dangerous because of their relatively steep descent through the outer layer as well as enhanced susceptibility to mechanical fatigue. Experiments are conducted on model glass/alumina/polycarbonate systems, using video cameras to record the fracture evolution in the transparent glass layer in situ during testing. Each fracture mode can lead to failure, depending on the maximum contact load and other variables (plate thickness, sphere radius). The potentially beneficial role of a stiff intervening core is discussed, along with potentially deleterious side effects of residual thermal-expansion-mismatch stresses.

The roles of indenter material and size in the failure of brittle veneer layers in all-ceramic crown-like structures are studied. Glass veneer layers 1 mm thick bonded to alumina layers 0.5 mm thick on polycarbonate bases (representative of porcelain/ceramic-core/dentin) are subject to cyclic contact loading with spherical indenters in water (representative of occlusal biting environment). Two indenter materials-glass and tungsten carbide-and three indenter radii-1.6, 5.0, and 12.5 mm-are investigated in the tests. A video camera is used to follow the near-contact initiation and subsequent downward propagation of cone cracks through the veneer layer to the core interface, at which point the specimen is considered to have failed. Both indenter material and indenter radius have some effect on the critical loads to initiate cracks within the local Hertzian contact field, but the influence of modulus is weaker. The critical loads to take the veneer to failure are relatively insensitive to either of these indenter variables, since the bulk of the cone crack propagation takes place in the contact far field. Clinical implications of the results are considered, including the issue of single-cycle overload versus low-load cyclic fatigue and changes in fracture mode with loading conditions.

This study examines the behavior of cracks approaching interfaces in all-ceramic dental crown-like bilayers. Flat specimens are fabricated by fusing porcelain veneers onto yttria-tetragonal-zirconia-polycrystal (Y-TZP) and alumina core ceramic plates, with veneer/core matching to minimize residual thermal expansion mismatch stresses. Vickers indentations are placed on either side of the interfaces, at systematically decreasing distances, so that the lead corner cracks approach and intersect the interfaces in a normal orientation. Cracks originating in the porcelain arrest at the boundaries and, after further diminution in indentation distance, deflect along the interface without penetration into the tough core ceramic. Cracks initiating in the core ceramic pass unimpeded into the weaker porcelain without deflection, and with abrupt increase in crack size. These latter cracks, because of their lack of containment within the core layer, are regarded as especially dangerous. Implications concerning the design of optimal dental crowns in relation to materials optimization are considered.