Abstract
An effective approach for preparing electrically conductive SiAlON-TiN composites have been developed. Granules of a designed composition of α-β SiAlON were obtained by spray drying and coated with varying amounts of TiO2 powder (0-10 vol%) homogenously by mechanical mixing. Fully dense composites were obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS) under a pressure of 50 MPa at 1650°C for 5min. According to the scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis, unique microstructures containing continuously segregated in-situ formed TiN phase in 3D were achieved. Additionally, X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies revealed that all TiO2 was successfully converted to TiN. The resistivity of the α-β SiAlON (1 × 1011 Ω·m) was drastically reduced down to 2 × 10-4 Ω·m at 5 vol% TiO2 addition.
