Flexible ceramics established on the mimicry of a natural flexible sandstone

Abstract

Itacolumite (flexible sandstone), which exists in nature, is composed of quartz grains and three-dimensional interlocking cracks among the grains similar to the jigsaw puzzle, and therefore it can freely move within a limited arc. The mechanism of this flexibility could be applied to stress relaxation of ceramics, e.g., earthquake-proof or thermal-shock resistant materials. In order to generate cracks, various composites were prepared by sintering mixtures of ceramics with different thermal expansion coefficients. Both the composites and itacolumite were investigated on mechanical and thermal properties. Some composites showed a stress-strain diagram similar to itacolumite.