Erosive wear behaviour in duophase SiAlON composites

This communication describes the erosive wear behaviour of sialon ceramics composed of different ratios of alpha- and beta-phase in terms of material properties such as hardness and fracture toughness by means of a sand blasting method with SIC abrasive particles. Experimental results show that the erosion rate (Delta v) of the alpha/beta sialon composites decreases with increasing hardness (H) and fracture toughness (K-c) and can be expressed by Delta v = 6.53 H-1.51 K-c(-3.33). A correlation factor of 0.98 between the measured and the predicted values has been obtained, indicating that the erosion rate of the composites is predictable with high accuracy if the hardness and fracture toughness of the composite were determined. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Limited and Techna S.r.l.