Statistical Analysis of Vickers Indentation Fracture Toughness of Y-tzp Ceramics

The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyse the fracture toughness of yttria stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (Y-TZP) dental ceramics by means of the Vickers indentation technique. Fracture toughness was analysed under the following loads: 29.42 N, 49.03 N, 196.13 N, and 294.20 N. Cracks that had developed from the vertices of a Vickers indentation were measured and used for the determination of fracture toughness by using nine different models. It was found that fracture toughness depends on the indentation load, the morphology of indentation cracking, and the applied model of fracture resistance. The set of fracture toughness data was analysed using the two-parameter Weibull statistics. The Weibull modulus and the scale parameter were determined by the linear regression method. It was concluded that the Weibull distribution can describe the fracture toughness of Y-TZP ceramics properly.