Abstract
Fully dense β-Si 3N 4 based nanoceramics were consolidated by spark plasma sintering (SPS). A commercially available β-Si 3N 4 nano-powder was used as starting material. The sintering bulks were fabricated with a heating rate of 90 °C/min by varying SPS temperature from 1550 °C to 1700 °C, and the linear shrinkage was used to evaluate the sintering behavior of the nano-powder. The microstructures of the developed Si 3N 4 based ceramics were achieved, and the grain length, grain width, and aspect ratio for these sintering bulks were found to increase gradually with elevating sintering temperature. The hardness and fracture toughness are associated with the microstructural characteristics. The crack propagation and fracture behavior for these β-Si 3N 4 based nanoceramics have been observed for the specimens sintered at different sintering temperatures. Crack deflection is found to be one of the toughening mechanisms for these β-Si 3N 4 based nanoceramics.
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