TOPOLOGICAL AND GEOMETRICAL PROPERTIES OF CRACK PATTERNS PRODUCED BY THE THERMAL-SHOCK IN CERAMICS

We study the crack patterns produced by thermal shock in ceramic table ware. Cracks produced at sufficiently high-temperature gradients parti tion the surface plane of a ceramic material into cells forming a rand om two-dimensional space-filling cellular structure. The topological a nd geometrical properties of these structures are described and analyz ed. The distribution of the number of cell sides, the topological corr elations between adjoining cells, the probability distributions of a c ell area and side length, the average area and perimeter of n-sided ce lls, and the distribution of vertex angles are determined. The results show that the studied cellular structures obey the Aboav-Weaire law [ Metallography 3, 383 (1970); 7, 157 (1974)] and Desch's law [J. Inst. Metals 22, 241 (1919)]. The scaling behavior of cellular structures ob tained at different temperature gradients of the thermal shock is also presented.