Literature review of fatigue life performance of ceramic materials

Ceramic materials are widely used nowadays in the aerospace sector. However, functional ceramics have not yet been fully researched in terms of their life expectancy under all possible loading scenarios. Ceramics have low toughness and high brittleness, but great thermal properties as it has been widely documented in the literature. A lack of research however with regards to ceramic material life expectancy models is evident. The fatigue life of ceramic materials is not thoroughly researched and there is a need for comparing them with more traditional materials used for similar purpose applications. In the present paper, the fatigue performance of several ceramic materials will be analyzed by using S-N curves, simulating the cumulative damage caused to these materials by different constant amplitude stresses applied from a wide range of applications and more specifically, aero-engine applications. Finally, the already existing literature on ceramic failure mechanisms and models will be evaluated and compared with the simulated life expectancy models to identify improvement opportunities and a guide for developing and deploying these materials to the extended use of applications.