Corrosion of silicon nitride ceramics in aqueous HF solutions

Abstract

The leaching behaviours of hot-pressed Si3N4 ceramics containing Y2O3, Al2O3 and AIN as additives and hot isostatically pressed Si3N4 without additives were studied in 0.1 to 10 M HF aqueous solutions at 50 to 80° C. Silicon and aluminium ions were dissolved into the HF solutions, but yttrium ion did not dissolve at all and formed insoluble YF3. The dissolution of silicon and aluminium ions was controlled by the surface chemical reaction and the apparent activation energies were 70.5 to 87.6 kJ mol−1, respectively. The corrosion rate increased with increasing degree of crystallization of the grain boundary phases. The corrosion resulted in roughness of the surface and degradation of the fracture strength. Si3N4 ceramics containing an amorphous phase at the grain boundaries showed the most excellent resistance to corrosion with HF solution, and kept a fracture strength of above 400 M Pa even after leaching 40% of the silicon ions.