ESIS TC6 "Ceramics"

FRACTOGRAPHY OF ADVANCED CERAMICS, FAC2008
Department of Structural Ceramics at the Institute of Materials Research of the Slovak Academy of Sciences organized the 3rd International Conference “Fractography of advanced Ceramics” in the ACADEMIA Congress Center, Stara Lesna, on September 7-10, 2008. The conference was organized under the auspices of the American Ceramics Society, European Ceramics Society and European Structural Integrity (ESIS). The conference were chaired by Prof. RN Dr. Ján Dusza, Dr.Sc. from IMR SAS, Slovakia, Prof. Robert Danzer from Montanauniversitat Leoben, Austria, Dr. Roger Morrell from the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, UK and Dr. George Quinn from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, USA, the secretaries were Dr. Františka Dorčáková and Dr. Monika Kašiarová. The conference was attended by 91 specialists from 20 countries. Over the last quarter of a century, fractography became a standard tool in characterisation of the degradation and failure processes in advanced ceramics. The aim of the conference
was to contribute to the improvement of mechanical properties, reliability, and lifetime prediction methods of structural and functional ceramics by means of focused discussions and exchange of the current status of knowledge in damage mechanisms and fracture processes in these materials.
The program of the conference included four keynote lectures, seven invited lectures, 29 oral presentations and 47 poster contributions. The contributions were related to fracture and fractography of structural and functional ceramics, damage processes, fracture of fibre strengthened, porous, and layered composites, nanoceramics and nanocomposites, indentation, wear and other damage mechanisms as well as the relationships among microstructure and mechanical properties of monolithic, composite and nano-ceramic materials.
Among the highlights of the conference was the presentation of Dr. Quinn on the history of fractography from the early 17 century, Prof. Bradt on the application of fractography in judicial review and expert witness and two lectures by dentists, which demonstrated unusually high level of practical application of fractography in patient mouths. Thanks to a very informal atmosphere, the conference had a very high scientific as well as social level and confirmed the need to organize such a type of conference in Europe. The next conference on a similar subject is planned in 2008 in USA and the 4th International Conference “Fractography of Advanced Ceramics” will take place in Stara Lesna in 2012.
The meeting of the Committee of the European Structure Integrity Society - ESIS, TC6 Ceramics was held during the conference.

Since no committee meeting took place in 2005, no changes in the working program can be reported.

The "Reference Material Testing Program", which is one of the current activities of TC6, has been presented at two conferences in invited lectures.

- T. Lube, J. Alcalá, J. Dusza, H. Klemm: "A Silicon Nitride Reference Material for Ceramic Design", 1th International Conference on Fracture, Turin, Italy, 2005, 3079-3084

- T. Lube, J. Dusza: "A Silicon Nitride Referencce Material - A Testing Program of ESIS TC6", ECERS IX, Portoroz, Slovenia, 2005

The next meeting of TC 6 is going to take place at IKTS Dresden, on May 2nd and 3rd, 2006. Informations on this meeting can be obtained at the TC6 chairpersons: Prof. Dr. Jan Dusza, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Ass. Prof. Dr. Tanja Lube, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .