Articles
  • Pressureless-sintering of reaction bonded silicon nitride containing cordierite
  • Chan Parka,*, Kook-Soo Banga, Dong-Soo Parkb, Hai-Doo Kimb and Steven Danylukc
  • a Division of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Pukyong National University, 608-739, Busan, Korea b Functional Materials Group, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, 66 SangNam-Dong, ChangWon, KyongNam, 641- 010, Korea c Department of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 813 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, Georgia, 30332-0550, USA
Abstract
Reaction bonded silicon nitride (RBSN) has been fabricated from Si powder with cordierite as a sintering aid. A nitridation rate of more than 90% was obtained in each specimen. As the amount of cordierite was increased, the nitridation rates decreased. Both α-Si3N4 and β-Si3N4 were formed during the nitridation of silicon to Si3N4. There were more beta crystals in the specimens with a higher cordierite content. The relative densities increased when the amount of cordierite increased. A Fracture toughness of 3.59±0.28 MPa-m1/2 was obtained for the specimen containing 18 wt% cordierite sintered at 1800 οC for 3 hours.

Keywords: Pressureless-sintering, RBSN, Nitridation, Relative density, Fracture toughness.

This Article

  • 2012; 13(3): 226-230