Objective TO EXTEND THE USE OF SILICON NITRIDE AS AN ENGINEERING CERAMIC FOR USE IN DIESEL-ENGINES AND GAS-TURBINES BY ENHANCING THE LEVEL OF CONSISTENCY IN ITS PROPERTIES, THUS REDUCING THE DESIGN CONTRAINTS THAT PRESENTLY RESTRICT ITS APPLICATION. THIS PROJECT WILL BE CARRIED OUT IN FOUR STAGES: IN THE FIRST PHASE, THE WORK WILL BE CONCENTRATED ON ELEMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SUITABLE SILICON FOR USE IN THE FORMATION OF SILICON NITRIDE. THE FUNCTIONS OF THE MAJOR IMPURITIES WILL BE IDENTIFIED IN AN EFFORT TO OPTIMIZE THE GRADE OF SILICON. THE PHYSICAL FORM OF THE SILICON WILL ALSO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT SINCE THIS CAN STRONGLY INFLUENCE THE MILLING PROPERTIES OF THE MATERIAL. DURING PHASE TWO, THE POWDER WILL BE CONSOLIDATED WITH THE ADDITION OF DIFFERENT BINDERS BY VARIOUS TECHNIQUES. METHODS FOR THE FINAL BINDER REMOVAL AND DISPOSAL WILL BE INVESTIGATED IN DETAIL AND THEIR EFFECTS IN THE SINTERED MATERIAL WILL BE ASSESSED. THE NITRIDATION OF SILICON WILL FORM THE GREATER PART OF THE THIRD PHASE. SUCH VARIABLES AS THE ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION, PRESSURE, EFFECT OF GASEOUS CONTAMINANTS, TEMPERATURE SCHEDULE, COMPACTION SIZE AND FURNACE PACKING DENSITY WILL ALL BE INVESTIGATED TO ASSESS THEIR EFFECTS ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE REACTION SINTERED PRODUCT. IN THE FINAL PHASE, NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTS WILL BE DEVELOPED TO DETECT FLAWS IN THE CERAMIC MATERIALS PRODUCED. SINCE THESE FLAWS ARE EXPECTED TO BE VERY FINE (OFTEN LESS THAN 20 MICRON), VERY SENSITIVE TECHNIQUES WILL BE USED, INCLUDING REFINED ULTRASONIC, RESONANCE FREQUENCY AND X-RAY SCANNING TECHNIQUES. FINALLY, STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF SPECIMENS, TO ASSESS CONSISTENCY AND IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSISTENCY, WILL BE CARRIED OUT BY UNDERTAKING MODULUS-OF-RUPTURE-MEASUREMENTS ON LARGE BATCHES OF SPECIMENS. A.E. DEVELOPMENTS LTD. (UK) WILL BE SUBCONTRACTED TO CARRY OUT THE LARGE SCALE CONSOLIDATION TRIALS AND NITRIDATION EXPERIMENTS. Programme(s) PRE-RAWMAT 2C - Research and development programme (EEC) in the raw materials sector, 1982-1985 Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme Data not available Coordinator BRITISH CERAMIC RESEARCH LTD. EU contribution No data Address Penkhull, Queens Road ST4 7LQ STOKE-ON-TRENT United Kingdom See on map Total cost No data Participants (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all A E Developments Ltd United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address See on map Total cost No data