Aluminium oxynitride

Properties

Aluminium oxynitride is resistant to various acids, bases, and water.

Mechanical

Aluminium oxynitride has the following mechanical properties:

• Compressive strength 2.68 GPa
• Flexural strength 0.38–0.7 GPa
• Fracture toughness 2.0 MPa·m
• Knoop hardness 1800 kg/mm2 (0.2 kg load)
• Poisson ratio 0.24
• Shear modulus 135 GPa
• Young's modulus 334 GPa

Thermal and optical

Aluminium oxynitride has the following thermal and optical properties:

• Specific heat 0.781 J/(g·K)
• Thermal conductivity 12.3 W/(m·K)
• Thermal expansion coefficient ~4.7/K
• Transparency range 200–5000 nm

Applications

Aluminium oxynitride is used for infrared-optical windows, with greater than 80% transparency for 2 mm thickness at wavelengths below about 4 micrometers, dropping to near zero at about 6 micrometers. It has also been demonstrated as an interface passivation layer in some semiconductor-related applications.

Aluminium oxynitride has less than half the weight and thickness of glass-based transparent armor. Aluminium oxynitride armor of 1.6 in thickness is capable of stopping .50 BMG armor-piercing rounds, which can penetrate 3.7 in of traditional glass laminate.

In 2005, the United States Air Force began testing aluminium-oxynitride-based armor.

Manufacture

Aluminium oxynitride can be fabricated as windows, plates, domes, rods, tubes and other forms using conventional ceramic powder processing techniques. Its composition can vary slightly: the aluminium content from about 30% to 36%, which has been reported to affect the bulk and shear moduli by only 1–2%. The fabricated greenware is subjected to heat treatment (densification) at elevated temperatures followed by grinding and polishing to transparency. It can withstand temperatures of about 2100 C in inert atmospheres. The grinding and polishing substantially improves the impact resistance and other mechanical properties of armor.

Patents

Patents related to aluminium oxynitride include:

• Aluminium oxynitride having improved optical characteristics and method of manufacture TM Hartnett, RL Gentilman , 1984
• Process for producing polycrystalline cubic aluminium oxynitride JW McCauley , 1980
• Transparent aluminium oxynitride and method of manufacture RL Gentilman, EA Maguire , 1985; , 1988
• Transparent aluminium oxynitride-based ceramic article JP Mathers , 1993

References

References

1. (February 2025). "ALON Optical Ceramic. Technical data". Surmet Corporation.
2. "Transparent aluminum oxynitride and method of manufacture".
3. Mohan Ramisetty et al. [http://ceramics.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/march13_cover-story.pdf Transparent Polycrystalline Spinels Protect and Defend], American Ceramic Society Bulletin, vol.92, 2, 20–24 (2013)
4. (Aug 2013). "Transparent Ceramics Find Wide Use in Optics". Photonics Spectra.
5. (1989). "Aluminum oxynitride spinel: A review". Journal of the European Ceramic Society.
6. (2011-05-20). "ALON optical ceramic transparencies for window, dome, and transparent armor applications". SPIE.
7. (2006). "Aluminum oxynitride interfacial passivation layer for high-permittivity gate dielectric stack on gallium arsenide". Applied Physics Letters.
8. Security News (2015-06-03). [http://www.tssbulletproof.com/optically-clear-aluminum-provides-bulletproof-protection/ Optically Clear Aluminium Provides Bulletproof Protection]. TSS, 3 June 2015. Retrieved on 2015-07-10. {{Webarchive. link. (2018-02-21 .)
9. (14 March 2011). "Surmet's ALON Transparent Armor 50 Caliber Test". [[YouTube]].
10. Schogol, Jeff. (October 30, 2005). "Air Force testing lighter, transparent ALON armor". [[Stars and Stripes (newspaper).
11. (1988). "Elastic properties of polycrystalline aluminum oxynitride spinel and their dependence on pressure, temperature and composition". Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
12. Joseph M. Wahl et al. [http://surmet.com/pdfs/news-and-media/SURMET-WHITE-PAPER-Recent-Advances-in-ALON(TM)-Optical-Ceramic.pdf Recent Advances in ALON Optical Ceramic], Surmet