Microstructural Aspects of the Hot-Pressed Hexagonal Boron Nitride Ceramics with Limited Content of Boron Oxide

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) based ceramics have been fabricated by hot-pressing in a nitrogen atmosphere at 1900°C for 60 min. under a pressure of 50 MPa with B2O3 as sintering additive. The phase composition was confirmed by XRD. The microstructural properties of h-BN powders and hot-pressed surfaces were evaluated by SEM-EDS analysis. The formation of the secondary phase was also investigated with particular interest on grain boundaries. The sintered densities were also determined by Archimedes’ method. The maximum relative density was obtained to be about 92 %. The effect of the existence of boron oxide on the boron nitride grain growth behaviour was discussed on the basis of microstructural features.