A Study on the Microstructural, Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Silicon Nitride Ceramic

Fine ceramics have high strength, excellent wear resistance, chemical stability and high strength at high temperature and are receiving attention in various fields such as construction, engineering, aerospace and marine science. Finish machining process is required to obtain precise ceramics components because sintering process necessary for obtaining high strength and high quality ceramics reduces the dimensions of components and precision of shape. But high strength and brittleness of ceramics materials cause difficulty in processing. So a process for obtaining wanted dimensions is studying using high temperature which makes ceramics softened and thermal affected recently. Laser beam is a very useful optical device for these kinds of processes. Laser process such as laser cutting, laser machining, laser heat treatment and laser-assisted machining(LAM) is researching to manufacture practical ceramics components using intense laser source which can cause local softening and damage of workpiece. In this paper, microstructural and mechanical properties of silicon nitride heated are studied as a basic study for researching of ceramics process by laser beam. The surface variation of HIP and SSN-silicon nitride was analyzed with SEM and EDS. A processing at $1,300^{\circ}C$ or above causes N element to combine into $N_2$ gas and the gas busts from surface. These phenomena make bloat, craters and heat defects on the surface of silicon nitride. Also, oxygen content is largely increased to oxidize the surface and it causes changing of phases and reducing of hardness of surface.