Recent developments in advanced ceramics are critically evaluated in respect to their thermal shock and thermal fatigue behavior from an interdisciplinary viewpoint by leading experts. The book covers the aspects of material development, mechanical and fracture mechanical models and experimental testing methods. Special emphasis is given to the influence of a rising crack resistance on the thermal shock behavior, novel irradiation testing methods for a quantitative characterization of the thermal shock and fatigue loading as well as detailed fracture mechanical models for single and multiple crack propagation.
This book summarizes developments of the last decade concerning the thermal shock and thermal fatigue behavior of advanced ceramics. The scientific articles of the book were carefully arranged in order to achieve a textbook-like form which will be of great value to researchers and students.

(ABSTRACT)
This book summarizes developments of the last decade concerning the thermal shock and thermal fatigue behavior of advanced ceramics. The book covers the aspects of material development, mechanical and fracture mechanical models and testing methods. The scientific articles were carefully arranged in order to achieve a textbook-like form which will be of great value to researchers and students.

Inhalt
Thermal Shock Behavior of Ceramic Materials Modelling and Measurement.- Thermal Stresses in Materials with Temperature Dependent Properties.- Thermal Shock Testing and the Problem of Standardisation.- Factors Influencing the Thermal Shock Behavior of Ceramics.- The Potential of Si3N4 for Thermal Shock Applications.- Change of Fracture Toughness and Strength Caused by Thermal Shock for Si3N4 with Microcrack.- Interrelation Between Flaw Resistance, R-Curve Behavior, Thermal Shock Strength Degradation, and Stress-Strain Behavior of Ceramics.- Thermal Shock and Cyclic Loading of Ceramic Parts in Stationary Gas Turbines.- Fracture Mechanics Treatment of Thermal Shock and the Effect of Bridging Stresses.- Application of Weight Function Method for Crack Analysis in Thermal Stress Fields.- Multiple Crack Propagation under Thermal Load.- Crack Patterns: Generalized Laplacian Structures.- Summary: III.1. Fracture-Mechanical Modelling of Thermal Shock.- Theoretical Approach of Optimum Design for a Plate of Functionally Gradient Materials under Thermal Loading.- Thermal Shock of Cracked Composite Materials with Temperature Dependent Properties.- Thermally Induced Micromechanical Stresses in Ceramic/Ceramic Composites.- The Design of the Interface Phase for Obtaining Thermal Shock Resistance in Silicon Nitride.- Summary: III.2. Tailoring of Materials.- In -situ Observations of Unstable and Stable Crack Propagation and R-Curve Behavior in Thermally Loaded Disks.- Thermal Shock Fracture by Laser Irradiation.- Evaluations of the Thermal Shock Resistances and Fracture Toughnesses of Graphite and C/C-Composites by Arc Discharge Heating.- Significance of Non-Linear Stress-Strain and R-Curve Behavior on Thermal Shock of Ceramics.- The Significance of Non-Elastic Deformation in theThermal Shock Fracture of Heterogeneous Ceramic Materials.- Influence of Heating Rate on the Thermal Strain Induced Fracture of Mg-PSZ Samples *.- Thermal Shock by Water Quench: Numerical Simulation.- Thermal Shock Resistance and Fracture of Ceramic Materials.- Thermal Fatigue Behavior of Actively Cooled Divertor Mock-Ups with Fiber Composites as Plasma Interactive Material.- Performance of Ceramics and Fiber Composites under Severe Thermal Shocks Applied by Energetic Electron Beams or Accelerated Plasmas.- Thermal Damage by Erosion and Cracking under Pulsed Irradiation.- Summary: IV.1. Thermal Shock.- Thermal Shock and Fatigue of Mullite and Alumina: Refined Analyses.- Thermal Fatigue of Glass.- Cyclic Thermal Shock in SiC Whisker Reinforced Alumina and in Other Ceramic Systems.- Thermal Fatigue and Subcritical Crack Growth in Ceramics.- Thermal Fatigue of Engineering Ceramics *.- Acoustic Emission Amplitude Analysis in Crack Growth Studies During Thermal Shock of Ceramics.- Summary: IV.2. Thermal Fatigue.- Statistical Aspects of the Thermal Shock Damage and the Quench Strengthening of Ceramics.- Thermal Shock Behavior of Ceramics: Probabilistic Predictions of Failure and Damage.- Thermal Proof Test of Ceramics.- Hot-Gas Method and Apparatus for Thermal Shock Testing.- Summary: IV.3. Probabilistic Characterization of Thermal Shock.- Improvement of Ductility of Ceramic Rich Region in Functionally Gradient Materials by Metal Fiber Premixing.- Thermal Shock Fracture Mechanism of Metal/Ceramic Functionally Gradient Materials.- Multifunctional Ceramics for Thermal Shock Applications.- Transient Thermal Fracture of Ceramic-to-Metal Interfaces.- Laser and Plasma-Arc Thermal Shock/Fatigue Fracture Evaluation Procedure for Functionally Gradient Materials.- Development of a Thermal Shock Evaluation Device for Functionally Gradient Materials for Aerospace Applications.- Thermal Fatigue Characteristics of Functionally Gradient Materials for Aerospace Applications.- Author Index.