Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of β-SiAlON Ceramics Fabricated Using Self-Propagating High-Temperature Synthesized β-SiAlON Powder

${\beta}-SiAlON$, based on its high fracture toughness, good strength and low abrasion resistance, has been adopted in several industrial fields such as bearings, turbine blades and non-ferrous metal refractories. In general, ${\beta}-SiAlON$ is fabricated by reactive sintering using expensive $Si_3N_4$ and AlN as starting materials. On the other hand, in this study, a cheaper ${\beta}-SiAlON$ starting powder synthesized by SHS was employed to improve price competitiveness compared to that of the reactive sintering process. ${\beta}-SiAlON$ ceramics with various content of the sintering additive $Y_2O_3$ up to 7 wt% were fabricated by conventional pressureless sintering at $1800^{\circ}C$ for 2 to 8 h under $N_2$ pressure of 0.1 MPa. The specimen with 3 wt% $Y_2O_3$ exhibited the best mechanical properties: hardness of 14 GPa, biaxial strength of 830 MPa, fracture toughness of $5MPa{\cdot}m^{1/2}$ and wear rate of about $3{\times}10^{-6}mm^3/N{\cdot}m$.