Impact Fracture Behavior of Turbine-Grade Silicon Nitride Ceramic Under Tensile Stress at Elevated Temperatures

A series of particle impact tests was carried out at elevated temperatures up to 1400°C and under tensile stresses up to 200 MPa using a gas turbine-grade silicon nitride (SN282-Kyocera Corporation). It was found that: 1) At room temperature, 100 MPa tensile stress brings 8% strength degradation. 2) Regarding the effect of the temperature without applying tensile stress, similar to the case of quasi-static loading, the fracture toughness seems to play a predominant role under the dynamic loading also. 3) At 1350°C under 100 MPa tensile stress, effect of the stress on the degradation increases by 15%. 4) The effects of temperature and tensile stress on the strength degradation seem to be additive for temperatures up to 1350°C. Above 1350°C, remarkable strength degradation appears.