This volume constitutes the proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on the Fracture Mechanics of Ceramics, held at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, on July 20-22, 1999. The theme of the symposium focused on the mechanical behaviour of advanced ceramics in terms of the cracks, particularly the crack-microstructure interaction, delayed failure, and environmental effects in fracture. Special attention was paid to the novel methods in fracture mechanics testing, pre-standardization and standardization. Authors from 19 countries represented the current state of the field.
