Utilization of a Miniaturized Brazilian Disc Test for Strength Measurements of C‐Bonded Alumina Filter Materials

Filtration of molten metals using open cell ceramic filters has proven the premises regarding the improvements of the final product quality. The Collaborative Research Center 920 has made a substantive record in developing carbon‐bonded alumina () filters. Considering the mechanical loads carried by these filters, material strength determination is a necessary step to improve their performance. The Brazilian disc test (BDT) is a method to determine mechanical properties of brittle materials with indirect tensile stresses. The simplicity of the specimen production, test application, as well as results evaluation makes this test attractive. Herein, experimental investigations of different variations of the BDT setup on specimens are conducted. Test variations mainly concern the geometry of the load application to ensure a defined failure of the specimens. Digital image correlation (DIC) technique is used to extract the necessary data for the evaluation of the results. Moreover, within an inverse parameter identification method finite element analysis is used to determine strength and elastic material parameters. Additionally, a high‐speed camera is used for the detection of crack formation. It can be concluded that a special variation of the BDT is a suitable method to evaluate the mechanical properties of .