Preparation of Both Reactive α-Si₃N₄ and SiC Mixed Powder in Flame-Isolation Nitridation Shuttle Kiln

Abstract:

α-Si₃N₄ possesses excellent sintering activity, which is used to prepare high performance Si₃N₄-based ceramics and composite refractory. Si₃N₄ powder is always synthesized by nitriding silicon in controlled-atmosphere furnace whose furnace volume is very small(effective volume: 1840×1420×1660mm), the extreme reaction heat is difficult to diffuse, which leads to high reaction temperature and conversion of α-Si₃N₄ to β-Si₃N₄, thus α-Si₃N₄ is difficult to be obtained in controlled-atmosphere furnace. While flame-isolation nitridation shuttle kiln has much larger furnace volume to conduct reaction heat (effective volume: 11500×4190×1684mm), so it owns homogeneous temperature field and stable low-temperature environment which benefits the preparation of α-Si₃N₄. Thermodynamic analysis of Si-N system is shown that Si₃N₄ can be formed by two formats: direct nitridation of Si(s) and indirect nitridation of SiO(g); to ensure completely nitridation, the particle size of silicon powder should be less than 88μm. With reclaimed powder from polysilicon cutting slurry as starting materials, both reactive α-Si₃N₄ and SiC mixed powder were successfully prepared in flame-isolation nitridation shuttle kiln. Because of the gas-gas reaction between SiO(g) and N₂(g), α-Si₃N₄ is fiber-like and in favor of processing high quality Si₃N₄-based materials.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volumes 512-515)
• Pages: 17-23
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.512-515.17
• Online since: June 2012
• Authors: Xiao Yan Zhu, Yong Li, Jia Ping Wang, Ya Wei Zhai, Jun Bo, Jian Fang Zhang
• Keywords: Electric Kiln, Flame-Isolation Nitridation Shuttle Kiln, Temperature Field Uniformity, α-Si₃N₄, β-Si₃N₄

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