Thermal-Shock Damage in SiC

Two silicon carbides with different fracture surface energies were subjected to increasingly severe thermal shock; the damage was monitored by changes in the specific damping capacity, elastic modulus, and fracture strength. The fracture strength followed predicted trends, but the strength losses did not correlate with the changes observed in damping and modulus. The differences in thermal-shock resistance of the materials were related to the fracture surface energy; the body with the higher fracture energy had superior resistance to thermal-shock damage.