Abstract
Mechanical and fracture characteristics of two new developed silicon nitride based layered structural ceramics are analyzed in the paper. Hardness, bending strength, fracture toughness and short time deformation characteristics at high temperatures are studied. Fracture initiation sites and fracture propagation characteristics studied by fractographic methods are described. The achieved results unambiguously proved the possibility of the fracture toughness and flaw tolerance increase in the layered ceramics in comparison with the monolithic one and the possibility of increasing the creep resistance of this ceramics type by an appropriate microstructure design of the individual layers.

Key words
mechanical and fracture characteristics, silicon nitride based layered structural ceramics, microstructure, creep resistance

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