Spark Plasma Sintering of α-Si3N4 Ceramics with MgO-Al2O3 as Sintering Additives

In the present study, α-Si3N4 is prepared by using MgO and Al2O3 as the sintering additives and spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The SPS sintering mechanism is discussed. The relationship between the content of sintering additives, sintering temperature and relative densities of the samples is analyzed. The results suggest that when the sintering temperature is 1300-1500°C, the content of sintering additives is 6wt.%-10wt.%, the relative density of sintered samples is 64%-96%. When the sintering temperature reaches 1400°C, the content of sintering additives is 10%, the samples can be fully dense sintered and the relative density can be up to 95%. The sintering mechanism is liquid phase sintering. The bending strength of the sintered samples is 50-403MPa and has a close correlation with the relative density.