Stress Analysis of Contact Deformation in Quasi‐Plastic Ceramics

A stress analysis is made of Hertzian contact deformation in relatively tough ceramics with heterogeneous microstructures, where the response is essentially quasi‐plastic rather than ideally elastic‐brittle. Contact data for two such heterogeneous ceramics, a micaceous glass‐ceramic with modest hardness and a silicon nitride with high hardness, are presented as illustrative cases. Data from a soft steel serve as a comparative baseline. Two...