The increasing demand for engineering materials in high temperature applications has led to investigation of the use of ceramic materials in such applications. Silicon nitride has emerged as a ceramic material having outstanding corrosion resistance, thermal shock resistance, mechanical properties and chemical properties. Although the requirements for increasingly higher operating temperatures (2500 F) for gas turbines have created much of the interest in silicon nitride, there are other potential high temperature applications such as bearings and radomes for which silicon nitride is also under consideration. The purpose of this bibliography is to summarize the research and development accomplished to date on the fabrication and properties of silicon nitride, particularly as it applies to structural uses of the material. This bibliography is an attempt to present a comprehensive but not an exhaustive study of the literature in the field.

Although ceramics have been known to mankind literally for millennia, research has never ceased. Apart from the classic uses as a bulk material in pottery, construction, and decoration, the latter half of the twentieth century saw an explosive growth of application fields, such as electrical and thermal insulators, wear-resistant bearings, surface coatings, lightweight armour, or aerospace materials. In addition to plain, hard solids, modern ceramics come in many new guises such as fabrics, ultrathin films, microstructures and hybrid composites. Built on the solid foundations laid down by the 20-volume series Materials Science and Technology, Ceramics Science and Technology picks out this exciting material class and illuminates it from all sides. Materials scientists, engineers, chemists, biochemists, physicists and medical researchers alike will find this work a treasure trove for a wide range of ceramics knowledge from theory and fundamentals to practical approaches and problem solutions.