Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 March 2011
SiC/AlN composites with controlled interfacial solid solution were employed in this present work to investigate the effects of interfacial chemical composition and AlN polytypes on the fatigue properties. The dynamic strength of the SiC/AlN composite was found to decrease initially as the stressing rate decreased. However, the strength increased with a decrease in stress rate at a low stress rate region of below 0.01 MPa/s. Crack arrest could have occurred before exhibiting spontaneous failure at an intermediate stress rate of 0.01 MPa/s. It was found that both the interfacial bonding strength and testing technique had essential effects on the behavior of slow crack growth.