Mechanical evaluation of SiC particle reinforced oxynitride glass and glass-ceramic composites
In silicon oxynitride glasses, the nitrogen occupies anion sites and is bonded to three silicons. Hence, replacement of divalent oxygen ions by trivalent nitrogen ones results in a considerable improvement of the mechanical resistance. In this exploratory work, the authors investigate some basic mechanical properties at room temperature of composite materials prepared by adding some SiC particles to a highly refractory Y-Mg-Si-Al-O-N oxynitride glass. Taking advantage of both constituents, the brittle particulate composites exhibit much better fracture strength and toughness and higher elastic moduli than the glassy matrix. Due to the easy crystallization of the selected glass, a further improvement is attainable through a crystallization treatment of the matrix. Fracture toughness and Young's modulus as high as 5.4 MPa.m[sup 0.5] and 215 GPa respectively have been measured on the glass-ceramic composite containing 50 vol.% SiC.