Silicon nitride wear resistant member and method of manufacturing the member
First Claim
1. A wear resistant member composed of silicon nitride sintered body containing 1-10 mass % of rare earth element in terms of oxide thereof as sintering agent, wherein a total oxygen content of said silicon nitride sintered body is 6 mass % or less, a porosity of said silicon nitride sintered body is 0.5 vol. % or less, and a maximum size of pore existing in grain boundary phase of the silicon nitride sintered body is 0.3 μ
- m or less.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a silicon nitride wear resistant member composed of silicon nitride sintered body containing 1-10 mass % of rare earth element in terms of oxide thereof as sintering agent, wherein a total oxygen content of the silicon nitride sintered body is 6 mass % or less, a porosity of the silicon nitride sintered body is 0.5 vol. % or less, and a maximum size of pore existing in grain boundary phase of the silicon nitride sintered body is 0.3 μm or less. According to the above structure of the present invention, there can be provided a silicon nitride wear resistant member and a method of manufacturing the member having a high strength and a toughness property, and particularly excellent in sliding characteristics.
36 Citations
19 Claims
- 1. A wear resistant member composed of silicon nitride sintered body containing 1-10 mass % of rare earth element in terms of oxide thereof as sintering agent, wherein a total oxygen content of said silicon nitride sintered body is 6 mass % or less, a porosity of said silicon nitride sintered body is 0.5 vol. % or less, and a maximum size of pore existing in grain boundary phase of the silicon nitride sintered body is 0.3 μ
-
14. A method of manufacturing a wear resistant member composed of silicon nitride sintered body comprising the steps of:
-
preparing a material mixture by adding 1 to 10 mass % of a rare earth element in terms of the amount of an oxide thereof to a silicon nitride powder containing at most 1.5 mass % of oxygen and 75-97 mass % of α
-phase type silicon nitride and having an average grain size of 1.0 μ
m or less;
molding said material mixture to form a compact;
degreasing said compact;
heating and holding said compact at a temperature of 1,250-1,600°
C. for a predetermined period of time on the way to a sintering step; and
conducting a main sintering for the compact at a temperature of 1,650-1,850°
C. thereby to form a wear resistant member composed of silicon nitride sintered body.
-
Specification