Deformation behavior of skeletal composites under mechanical loading

The deformation behavior of ceramic-metal composites with a bulk-linked metal skeleton made of highly porous cellular nickel and a stainless wire mesh is examined. It is established that samples of skeletal ceramics remain intact after all types of destructive tests and show high plasticity and strain and fracture energies. A technique is developed for producing ceramics with a bulk-linked metal skeleton by filling a highly porous framework with a ceramic powder and subsequent pressing and sintering of the composite. The technique is tested for two types of skeletal ceramics: structural ceramics such as pyroceramics-highly porous cellular nickel and bioceramics such as hydroxyapatite-highly porous stainless wire skeleton. The hydroxyapatite-based composite has lower bending strength and shock bending energy but higher plasticity and nondestructability than the pyroceramics-based composite.