Effect of Silicon Nitride Whisker Content on the Flexural Strength of Silicon Nitride-Boron Nitride-Silicon Carbide Multi-Layer Composites

Multi-layer ceramic composites were prepared by tape casting followed by hot pressing using silicon nitride layer with silicon nitride whiskers, silicon nitride layer with silicon carbide particles and boron nitride-alumina layer. The whiskers were aligned during the casting. As the whisker content of the silicon nitride layer was increased up to 10 wt％, the flexural strength of the multi-layer composite was increased. However, further increase of the whisker content in the layer resulted in a rapid decrease of the strength of the composite. The results suggest that the strength of multi-layer ceramic composite showing non-catastrophic failure behavior can be significantly improved by incorporating the aligned whiskers in the layers.