Nanostructure Ceramics of Silicon Nitride Produced by Spark Plasma Sintering

The nanostructure control of $Si_3N_4$ ceramics can be achieved by using fine starting powder and retardation of grain growth. The spark plasma sintering technique is useful to retard the grain growth by rapid heating. In the present work, the change of microstructure was investigated with emphasis on the particle size of starting powder, the amount of sintering additive and the heating schedule. The rapid heating by spark plasma sintering gave the fine microstructure consisting of equiaxed grains with the same size as starting particles. The spark plasma sintering of $Si_3N_4$ fine powder was effective to control the microstrucutre on nano-meter level.