Cyclic fatigue-crack propagation in sapphire in air and simulated physiological environments

Single-crystal aluminas are being considered for use in the manufacture of prosthetic heart valves. To characterize such materials for biomedical application, subcritical crack growth by stress corrosion (static fatigue) and by cyclic fatigue has been examined in sapphire along (1100) planes in 24 degrees C humid air and 37 degrees C Ringer's solution (the latter as a simulated physiological environment). The relationships between crack-propagation rates and the linear-elastic stress intensity have been determined for the first time in sapphire for both modes of subcritical cracking. It was found that growth rates were significantly faster at a given stress intensity in the Ringer's solution compared to the humid air environment. Mechanistically, a true cyclic fatigue effect was not found in sapphire as experimentally measured cyclic fatigue-crack growth rates could be closely predicted simply by integrating the static fatigue-crack growth data over the cyclic loading cycle.