Erosion of a silicon carbide whisker reinforced silicon nitride

Conference · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:6883191

Morrison, C T; Routbort, J L; Scattergood, R O

The steady-state solid particle erosion behavior of hot-pressed Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ reinforced with 0, 10, and 20 weight percent SiC whiskers has been investigated at room temperature using angular alumina particles (63 to 270..mu..m diameter) as the erodent. The impact angle was varied from 30 to 90/sup 0/ and particle velocities were varied from 80 to 140 m/s. These materials were found to be very erosion resistant. However, there was little effect of the SiC whisker reinforcement on either the absolute erosion rate or on the velocity or particle-size exponents for the rates. The lack of a fiber reinforcement effect occurs even though the fiber additions provide an increase in the fracture toughness at high fiber contents. Results on differently processed Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ base materials showed that microstructural variations due to processing history have a very significant influence on the erosion resistance of the base (matrix) material. The results substantiate the idea that microstructure plays an important, but not fully understood, role in the erosion processes for brittle materials.

• Research Organization: North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh (USA). Dept. of Materials Engineering; Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6883191
• Report Number(s): CONF-861207-63; ON: DE87004703
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360205* -- Ceramics
Cermets
& Refractories-- Corrosion & Erosion
ABRASIVES
CARBIDES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
CRYSTALS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
EROSION
FABRICATION
FIBERS
HOT PRESSING
MATERIALS
MATERIALS WORKING
MICROSCOPY
MICROSTRUCTURE
MONOCRYSTALS
NITRIDES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
PNICTIDES
PRESSING
REINFORCED MATERIALS
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SILICON CARBIDES
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SILICON NITRIDES
WHISKERS