Improved fracture behavior and mechanical properties of alumina textured ceramics

[0 0 0 1]-oriented alumina ceramics with texture fractions (F0001) ranging from ∼9.6% to 93.6% were prepared by templated grain growth (TGG) of nanoscale matrix. Ceramic density directly controls F0001. Impingement of textured grains can be observed at F0001 ≥ 58.4%. When fracturing samples along [0 0 0 1], the interfaces between basal surfaces of the impinged textured grains provide a favorable path for crack deflection, and the deflection distance becomes longer with increasing F0001. As a result of both crack defection and high density, optimum fracture toughness ∼4.6 MPa.m1/2 and flexural strength ∼589 MPa were achieved at F0001 = 93.6%, which are much higher than those obtained in the randomly oriented counterpart. This work can provide guidelines for the design and synthesis of novel structural ceramics with improved performance.