An Investigation of Reaction Sintered Silicon Nitride as a Radome Material.
Abstract
Studies to form reaction bonded silicon nitride radomes from slip-cast silicon are described. The costs associated with fabricating slip-cast reaction sintered silicon nitride radomes in the laboratory are compared with the costs for slip-cast fused silica radomes. The techniques and materials used to develop slips from silicon powder, the pressure casting techniques and the reaction sintering techniques used to obtain electrically acceptable radomes are described. Transmission and pattern degradation measurements were made on the smaller radomes. One radome with an estimated density of 2.45 gm/cc had a transmission loss of less than 1 dB. Slip-cast reaction sintered silicon nitride radomes can be formed with final nitrided densities of 2.0 to 2.6 gm/cc, however, the difficulty of obtaining fully nitrided radomes with electrically acceptable properties increases with increasing density.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1975
- Accession Number
- ADA012439
Entities
People
- Joe N. Harris
Organizations
- Georgia Tech