Abstract
b-SiAlON nano ceramics were fabricated by spark plasma sintering using the ultra fine powder synthesized through carbothermal reduction-nitrogen method, and its aqueous and gas corrosion resistance were evaluated. As a result of TEM observation,the devoloped b-SiAlON ceramics were composed of nano-sized grains and the glassy phase was hardly found at the grain boundary. It showed much higher aqueous corrosion resistance than commercialized Si3N4 ceramics. We also obtained valuable information of corrosion surface from SPM observation.Furthermore, the b-SiAlON nano ceramics possessed high corrosion resistance to air and air-SOXgas mixture at high temperature. It is considered excellent thermal and chemical durability of b-SiAlON but also very little glassy phase in their grain boundary.