Acoustic emission studies of low thermal expansion aluminum-titanate ceramics strengthened by compounding mullite

Mullite (Mu) with high strength was compounded into aluminum-titanate (AT) ceramics with low thermal expansion to increase their strength. For the AT–Mu system composites, thermal contraction and expansion and acoustic emission (AE) event count rate were measured during cooling using the AE technique and the characteristics of AT–Mu composites were evaluated. The expansion due to microcracking in the range of AE count peak temperatures to room temperature was obtained and the crack volume was estimated from the expansion by cracking. A linear relation with a very high correlation (r = 0.993) was observed between bending strength and crack volume at room temperature. From the linear plot, the bending strength at crack-free temperature in the best AT–Mu composite was shown to be 130 MP.