Mechanical properties and fracture behaviour of multilayer alumina composites

Adopting a ceramic/polymer multilayer structure design to simulate the structure of nacre is usually believed to be an effective way to increase the toughness of ceramic composites at the expense of the material's bending strength. However, in this study, we found that both the bending strength and the toughness could be improved simultaneously when using a certain Al2O3/Kevlar multilayer composite design compared to pure alumina samples with the same dimensions. The fracture behaviour of the Al2O3/Kevlar multilayer composite was studied to find a reason for this improvement. The results showed that the complex and asymmetrical stresses occurring in the Kevlar-reinforced layers were the main reason for the differences in fracture behaviour. We expect our results to open up new ways for the design of future high performance ceramic composites.