Origin and Evolution of Cracks in the Glaze Surface of a Ceramic during the Cooling Process

Abstract

Because of the significant difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of ceramic blank and glaze, the glaze typically undergoes more pronounced shrinkage than the blank during ceramic cooling, which results in high stress concentrations and cracking. In this study, the mechanical mechanism of glaze cracking is studied, based on the statistical strength theory, damage mechanics, and continuum mechanics. Furthermore, the influence of the glaze layer thickness, heat transfer coefficient, expansion coefficient, and temperature difference on the creation and propagation of inner microcracks is systematically investigated, and the final discrete fracture network of ceramics is discussed at the specific crack saturation state. The results show that (1) a higher heat transfer coefficient will lead to a more uniform distribution of the surface temperature and a faster cooling process of the ceramics, reducing the number of microcracks when the ambient temperature is reached; (2) the thinner glaze layer is less prone to cracking when its thickness is smaller than that of the blank. However, when the thickness of the glaze layer is similar to that of the blank, the increased thickness of the glaze layer will increase the number of cracks on its surface; and (3) when the expansion coefficient of the glaze layer is smaller than that of the blank, cracks will not occur inside the glaze layer. However, as the coefficient of the thermal expansion of the glaze layer continuously rises, the number of cracks on its surface will first increase and then decrease.

Laser Processing of Liquid Feedstock Plasma-Sprayed Lithium Titanium Oxide Solid-State-Battery Electrode

“…It should be mentioned that for a fixed laser power, the scanning speed should be optimum, so that the interaction time of the laser beam with the peak of hills is suitable enough and the hills can be partially melted to fill the valleys (see Figure 5). However, decreasing the scanning speed to below the optimum value can cause increased spatters and turbulence in melted zones due to excessive energy input, and consequently, the surface roughness will be increased [27], as seen in line 1.…”