Porosity influence on the mechanical properties of polycrystalline zirconium nitride ceramics

Polycrystalline zirconium nitride (ZrN) pellets, which have three kinds of porosity but have the same grain size, were prepared by the spark plasma sintering (SPS). The room temperature mechanical properties of the samples were evaluated by ultrasonic pulse echo measurements, Vickers hardness tests and nanoindentation tests. The general equations for the porosity influence on Young’s modulus and hardness were proposed.