IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v389y1997i6652d10.1038_39542.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A tough SiAlON ceramic based on α-Si3N4 with a whisker-like microstructure

Author

Listed:
  • I-Wei Chen

    (University of Michigan
    University of Pennsylvania)

  • Anatoly Rosenflanz

    (University of Michigan
    University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract

Silicon nitride (Si3N4) is a light, hard and strong engineering ceramic1,2. It can withstand harsh environments and support heavy loads at temperatures beyond those at which metals and polymers fail. It can also be manufactured reliably at a reasonable cost and in large quantities. There are two forms of silicon nitride3: α-Si3N4 and β-Si3N4. The former is harder, but only the latter is currently used in engineering applications, because only this form can be given a microstructure resembling a whisker-reinforced composite1,2,4, which gives it the necessary toughness and strength. Here we report the synthesis of a tough α-Si3N4 solid solution with this kind of microstructure. This material is 40% harder than β-Si3N4 and is equally strong and tough. Its hardness (22 GPa) is exceeded only by boron carbide and diamond (which are both brittle). These properties mean that this form of α-Si3N4 should be preferred over β-Si3N4 for all engineering applications, and it should open up new potential areas in which the ceramic can be applied.

Suggested Citation

  • I-Wei Chen & Anatoly Rosenflanz, 1997. "A tough SiAlON ceramic based on α-Si3N4 with a whisker-like microstructure," Nature, Nature, vol. 389(6652), pages 701-704, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:389:y:1997:i:6652:d:10.1038_39542
    DOI: 10.1038/39542
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/39542
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/39542?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jinfu Li & Changsheng Yue & Mei Zhang & Xidong Wang & Zuotai Zhang, 2015. "Facile and Economical Preparation of SiAlON-Based Composites Using Coal Gangue: From Fundamental to Industrial Application," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-13, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:389:y:1997:i:6652:d:10.1038_39542. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.