Ultrasonic waves in porous ceramics with non-spherical holes

Formulae describing the effective elastic moduli of a porous ceramic medium are derived using Eshelby's solution and Maxwell's approximation. The ceramic medium is considered as an infinite matrix, which has uniform elastic properties and encloses non-spherical pores. A numerical evaluation of the velocity of an ultrasonic wave in the ceramic, as function of the porosity and pore shape, is presented. The theoretical results were combined with those obtained experimentally for different firing temperatures of the ceramic.