Relationship between fracture toughness and frontal process zone on ceramic/ceramic nanocomposites

Abstract

Silicon nitride have excellent properties as structural ceramics, such as high strength, good wear resistance, high toughness. To improve the mechanical properties of Si₃N₄, we are fabricated the Si₃N₄/SiC nanocomposites using hot pressing technique. For fabricating dense Si₃N₄/SiC nanocomposites, Al₂O₃ and Y₂O₃ added 2wt% and 5wt% as sinter additive, respectively. The amount of the SiC powder was restrained to fabricate the intra-granular dispersed nanocomposites. The Si₃N₄/SiC nanocomposites are measured mechanical properties, such as relative density, Vickers hardness, fracture strength, and fracture toughness, and observed the microstructures using SEM and TEM. We discussed the relationship between fracture toughness and frontal process zone (FPZ) size.