Effects of AlN on the densification and mechanical properties of pressureless-sintered SiC ceramics

摘要

In the present work, Si C ceramics was fabricated with Al N using B4 C and C as sintering aids by a solid-state pressureless-sintered method. The effects of Al N contents on the densification, mechanical properties, phase compositions, and microstructure evolutions of as-obtained Si C ceramics were thoroughly investigated. Al N was found to promote further densification of the Si C ceramics due to its evaporation over 1800 °C,transportation, and solidification in the pores resulted from Si C grain coarsening. The highest relative density of 99.65% was achieved for Si C sample with 15.0 wt% Al N by the pressureless-sintered method at 2130 °C for 1 h in Ar atmosphere. Furthermore, the fracture mechanism for Si C ceramics containing Al N tended to transfer from single transgranular fracture mode to both transgranular fracture and intergranular fracture modes when the sample with 30.0 wt% Al N sintered at 1900 °C for 1 h in Ar. Also, Si C ceramics with 30.0 wt% Al N exhibited the highest fracture toughness of 5.23 MPa m1/2 when sintered at 1900 °C.