SHOCK RESPONSE OF SILICON NITRIDE

Silicon nitride is suitable for varied applications because its properties can be tailored through processing and doping. The current work presents shock response of silicon nitride marketed as SN282. The density of this material, 3.4 Mg/m(3), exceeds its single crystal density, 3.2 Mg/m(3), due to the presence of lutetium oxide as an additive around 5% by weight in the material. While the average grain size is 3.4 microns, the aspect ratio of the grains exceed 3. Preliminary results of shock wave experiments may be summarized as follows: (1) The Hugoniot Elastic Limit (HEL) of SN282 lies between 10.8 and 11.9 GPa. (2) The magnitude of the inelastic wave velocity just above the HEL is 8.73 km/s, suggesting that inelastic deformation above the HEL is due to shock induced plasticity in the material. (3) The value of the spall strength lies between 0.57 and 0.65 GPa. The spall strength of SN282 remains unchanged even when shocked beyond the HEL to at least 19.2 GPa unlike other brittle ceramics.