Corrosion of silicon nitride ceramics under hydrothermal conditions

Abstract

Corrosion behaviour of Si3N4 ceramics containing Y2O3, Al2O3 and AIN as sintering aids was investigated under hydrothermal conditions at 200–300 ‡C and saturated vapour pressures of water for 1–10 days. Hydrothermal corrosion resulted in the dissolution of the Si3N4 matrix and the formation of a product layer consisting of the original grain-boundary phases and hydrated silica. The dissolution rate of Si3N4 ceramics decreased with decreasing crystallinity of the grain-boundary phase. The dissolution rate could be adequately described by a parabolic plot in the initial stage of the reaction. The apparent activation energies were 83.5–108 kJ mol−1, and the bending strength of the corroded samples decreased from ∼ 600 to 400 MPa in the initial stage of the reaction upto a weight loss of 0.004 g cm−2, and then was almost constant up to a weight loss of 0.012 g cm−2.