Determination of Fracture Toughness and Elastic Module in Materials Based Silicon Nitride

The knowledge of the mechanical properties of any material subjected to loads is necessary for its use in structural applications. Silicon nitride (Si3N4) ceramics are well-known materials used in engineering applications due to their outstanding combination of high strength and fracture toughness. The most studied mechanical properties of Si3N4 are hardness, fracture toughness and mechanical resistance. Recent advances in the production processes that incorporate high purity rare earth elements as sintering additives have improved these mechanical properties. Using Vickers indentation method, the elastic module and fracture toughness of Si3N4 based materials modified with La2O3, Y2O3 and Al2O3 were determined as a function of the cracking system type that prevails under the effect of load. The results indicate that adding rare earth to the matrix increased the fracture toughness the Si3N4 base ceramic Samples containing La2O3+Y2O3 showed higher values of fracture toughness than the ones with Al2O3+La2O3, regardless of the equation used in the calculations. Meanwhile the elastic module decrease approximately 100 GPa for both types of nitrides by the effect of the temperature.