Mechanical and Fractographic Analyses of Monolithic Si₃N₄ Ceramics during Impact Testing

Abstract

A comprehensive experimental and theoretical work aiming at studying the dynamic failure process of silicon nitride ceramics has been recently started. The main goal of this research programme consists in characterizing the mechanical behaviour of the material under dynamic loading as well as investigating the dynamic failure process using micro- and macro-fractography. The current paper deals with the phenomenon of special rate dependence of KId dynamic fracture toughness of Si3N4 based ceramics. The KId valu…