Papers by Author: Marco Riva

Abstract: Environmental-assisted subcritical crack growth on two different /-sialon ceramics is determined in static fatigue tests. The goal of these investigations was to determine the influence of delivering medium of high pressure pumps on their durability (life cycle). Therefore 4-point-bending bars were statically loaded in distilled water and subcritical crack growth was analyzed. The large number of spontaneous failure and survivals made the development of a modified testing procedure necessary in order to obtain a significant database.

Abstract: Effects of plasma etching on mixed /-sialon ceramics with different /-ratiowere investigated. A mix of CF4/O2 in a ratio of 2:1 was chosen as reactive gas. Parameters such as etching time and the material composition were examined. It was shown that -grains exhibit a larger etching rate than the grain boundary glassy phase or the -grains, generating pockets in a range of few µm. The so created surfaces were characterized both by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and by atomic force microscopy (AFM) in contact mode. These complementary techniques also enabled the determination of the bearing ratio.