Pressureless Sintering and Properties Investigation of Silicon Nitride

Different grain size of starting powder was choosed and different sintering additives were used to fabricate Si3N4 ceramics by pressureless sintering. Samples’ relative density and mechanical properties including Vickers hardness, bending strength and fracture toughness were tested. Then XRD, SEM and EDS were carried out to identify phase and observe microstructure and fracture morphology. The result shows that high purity α phase Si3N4 powder of 5 μm is suitable for sintering and combination of 5 wt.% MgO +5 wt.% Y2O3 is most effective within six kinds of sintering aids.