Previous work has shown Lu2O3-SiO2 additives are useful in improving the bending strength of Si3N4 at elevated temperature. The bending strength of the tape-cast Si3N4 with rod-like â-Si3N4 seed can be further improved because the elongated grains from seeds were preferentially oriented parallel to the casting direction. In this study from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and published in AZojomo*, Lu2O3-SiO2 additives were selected as sintering additives, and tape casting was used to prepare the unidirectional aligned â-Si3N4 elongated grain Si3N4 ceramics.
The researchers Yu-Ping Zeng, Jian-Feng Yang, Naoki Kondo, Kiyoshi Hirao, Tatsuki Ohji, Hideki Kita and Shuzo Kanzaki found that the seeded and tape-cast Si3N4 materials showed anisotropic microstructures and bending strength with the thickness of green tape having some effect on the bending strength. Due to the formation of a high melting point grain boundary phase Lu2Si2O7N2 and the unidirectionally aligned â-Si3N4 elongated grains, the seeded and tape-cast Si3N4 shows good bending strength at elevated temperature.
The article is available to view at http://www.azom.com/Details.asp?ArticleID=3078
*AZojomo (ISSN 1833-122X) publishes high quality articles and papers on all aspects of materials science and related technologies. All the contributions are reviewed by a world class panel of editors who are experts in a wide spectrum of materials science. [See http://www.azom.com/Journal%20Editorial%20Board.asp]
AZojomo is based on the patented OARS (Open Access Rewards System) publishing protocol. The OARS protocol represents a unique development in the field of scientific publishing – the distribution of online scientific journal revenue between the authors, peer reviewers and site operators with no publication charges, just totally free to access high quality, peer reviewed materials science. [See http://www.azom.com/azojomo.asp and http://www.azom.com/oars.asp]