The thermal shock behavior of alumina ceramics tested by two different approaches, water and air quenching, using an automatic experimental set was investigated. The changes of the flexural strength before and after the thermal shock was measured and used as an indicator of thermal shock resistance. The study reveals that air quenching test has limited impact on the changes of flexural strength, whereas the water quenching yields considerable decreases of the strength. The alumina ceramics was quenched in water at various temperature differences for five cycles. It is shown that the retained strength of the quenched specimens decreases abruptly at the temperature difference of 300°C, which indicates a great severity of thermal shock in this point. The thermal shock behavior of the specimens is evaluated by quenching in water as three different temperature differences, ΔT, setting at 300°C, 600°C and 800°C, respectively. The results show, for three different ΔT quenches, the strength reductions caused by the quenching exhibit similar trends: After a sharp drop, the residual strength remains almost unchanged at a certain level for each given quenching temperature difference, and the turning points all fall in the very first five to ten thermal cycles range. And the rank of the damage severity of alumina ceramics among the three different temperature differences is: ΔT800°C > ΔT600°C > ΔT300°C
Thermal shock resistance of polycrystalline cubic boron nitride