Strength and fracture character of HTS ceramic YBa2Cu3O7-δ of varying density in the temperature range 4.2-293 K

The ultimate strength and static Young modulus of superconducting yttrium ceramics of varying density (3.6-5.9 g/cm3) are measured systematically in experiments on quasistatic compression in the temperature range from 4.2 to 293 K. The effect of porosity, upon mechanical properties is studied. A specific feature of the temperature dependence of the strength in the region from 60 to 200 K is detected on low-density ceramics, which correlates with the anomalies of their acoustic characteristics. The physical mechanisms of low temperature destruction and their relation to the observed regularities of the strength variation are analyzed