抄録
Si3N4 is one of the mostattractive materials for wear applications. Some of the authors have beeninvolved in the creation and development of this material as a pioneer researcher. At present, a high-quality Si3N4 ceramic foruse as wear components has been fabricated from the system Si3N4-Y2O3-Al2O3-TiO2-AlN,but the sintering behavior was not clear. Thus we have investigated the effectof adding TiO2 and AlN on the densification and microstructure development in the above system. As a result, we found the TiO2 promoted the densification changing into TiN, which was precipitated betweenthe grain boundary as isotropic grains. Strengthening effect of the dispersion of TiN grains was discussed by microstructural analysis and contact damage testing method.
