Microstructural characterization, mechanical properties and thermal expansion of antiperovskite manganese nitride Mn3.1Zn0.5S0.4N fabricated by combing vacuum sintering and spark-plasma sintering

摘要

Due to the superior mechanical properties and negative thermal expansion, antiperovskite manganese nitrides have played an important role in many engineering applications, and one of which is that they can be used as ideal reinforced phases to fabricate composites with near-zero thermal expansion. In this study, one type of antiperovskite manganese nitride, Mn3.Zn0.5Sn0.4N, was initially fabricated by vacuum sintering and subsequently densified by spark-plasma sintering (SPS). The bulk density, material phase and organization analysis are measured after it is densified at different SPS temperatures. Young's modulus, hardness and compressive strength are obtained by using nano-indentation and compression tests, respectively. It is seen that lattice constant, negative thermal expansion and magnetic transition temperature exhibit similar trends, which can be attributed to the lattice distortions caused by changing the SPS temperatures. From this analysis, a systematical study has been conducted to understand the relation between the microstructures, mechanical and thermal properties of antiperovskite manganese nitride.