Developing strength and toughness in bio-inspired silicon carbide hybrid materials containing a compliant phase

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2015.07.022 1359-6454/ 2015 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. E-mail address: [email protected] (R.O. Ritchie). 1 Intrinsic toughening mechanisms operate ahead of the crack tip to resistance to microstructural damage, primarily through plastic deformatio provides a means of blunting the crack tip through the formation of ‘‘plasti Extrinsic toughening mechanisms, conversely, operate primarily in the wa crack tip to inhibit cracking by ‘‘shielding’’ the crack from the applied drivi Whereas intrinsic toughening is effective in inhibiting both the initiation an of cracks, extrinsic mechanisms, e.g., crack bridging and crack deflection, effective in inhibiting crack growth [1,3]. Valentina Naglieri , Bernd Gludovatz , Antoni P. Tomsia , Robert O. Ritchie a,b,⇑