Mechanical characterization of highly porous β-Si3N4 ceramics fabricated via partial sintering & starch addition

Ayse Kalemtas*, Gulsum Topates, Hüseyin Özcoban, Hasan Mandal, Ferhat Kara, Rolf Janssen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

62 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this study, porous β-Si3N4 ceramics containing limited amount of Sm2O3 and CaO as sintering aids were produced by addition of potato starch (10 and 20vol.%) and partial sintering. Two different Si3N4 powders, α- and β-, were used as starting materials. Scanning electron microscopy investigations revealed that development of elongated β-Si3N4 grains were much more pronounced when α-Si3N4 starting powder was used. Even though porosity values of the compositions prepared by using α-Si3N4 (∼57.0-58.4%) is significantly higher than the samples produced by β-Si3N4 (42.6%), no significant change was observed for the bending strength, fracture toughness and Weibull modulus. This indicates that microstructural features have a significant contribution to the mechanical properties of the porous materials in terms of bending strength and fracture toughness.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1507-1515
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of the European Ceramic Society
Volume33
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • 4-Point bending strength
  • Fracture toughness
  • Microstructural evolution
  • Porous β-SiN

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