The effect of nitrogen alloying on the densification process of a sialon ceramic-matrix composite containing stainless steel

A series of experiments have been carried out to test the validity of a chemical thermodynamic approach to predicting the effect of nitrogen alloying of stainless steel on its interaction with silicon nitride during sintering of sialon ceramic-matrix composites. The approach has been shown to be valid and several compositions of sialon-steel composites have been fabricated. The steel particle size and the amount of steel in the composite are also shown to have an influence on the extent of densification. Conditions are described for optimum sintering of this type of material, which has been shown to have application in several areas, including ceramic-metal joining.