Low-temperature sintered porous Si3N4 ceramics using two fluorides as sintering aid

Abstract Porous Si 3 N 4 ceramics with a unique interlocking microstructure have been fabricated by pressureless liquid-phase sintering with YbF 3 and CaF 2 sintering additives at a relatively low temperature (1550 °C). Phase transition and mass diffusion in the low-temperature sintering process are facilitated by YbF 3 and CaF 2 producing plenty of liquid phase owing to their extremely low melting points. As the content of YbF 3 increases from 8.0 wt% to 9.5 wt% and the CaF 2 decreases from 2.0 wt% to 0.5 wt%, the conversion rate of the phase transition from α-Si 3 N 4 to β-Si 3 N 4 increases from 71.1% to 81.2% and the largest average aspect ratio of the β-Si 3 N 4 grains reaches 10.05. At the same time, the porosity declines from 40.4% to 34.9% and the flexural strength increases from 168.5 MPa to 232.1 MPa.