Abstract
An experimental method to investigate the fracture strength and fracture toughness for the silicon nitrides sintered at various sintering temperature is established. The erosion rate for these materials in the various concentration of NaOH solution is also investigated. In result, the fracture strength of Si3N4 is decreased with the increase of sintering temperature. On the other hand, the fracture toughness KIC is increased with the increase of sintering temperature. The erosion rate of silicon nitride in the NaOH solution depend largely on the grain size and the concentration of NaOH solution. The erosion rate of silicon nitride sintered at $1800^{\circ}C$ was much higher than that at $1950^{\circ}C$. These results are due to the unique columnar structure of silicon nitride.