Sintered silicon nitride/nano-silicon carbide materials based on preceramic polymers and ceramic powder

A flexible method is presented, which enables the fabrication of porous as well as dense Si3N4/nano-SiC components by using Si3N4 powder and a preceramic polymer (polycarbosilazane) as alternative ceramic forming binder. The SiCN polymer benefits consolidation as well as shaping of the green body and partially fills the interstices between the Si3N4 particles. Cross-linking of the precursor at 300 degrees C increases the mechanical stability of the green bodies and facilitates near net shape machining. At first, pyrolysis leads to porous ceramic bodies. Finally, subsequent gas pressure sintering results in dense Si3N4/nano-SiC ceramics. Due to the high ceramic yield of the polycarbosilazane binder, the shrinkage during sintering is significantly reduced from 20 to 15 lin.%. Investigations of the sintered ceramics reveal, that the microstructure of the Si3N4 ceramic contains approx. 6 vol.% nano-scaled SiC segregations, which are located both at the grain boundaries and as inclusions in the Si3N4 grains. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.