The Open Ceramic Science Journal

2012, 2 : 1-7
Published online 2012 January 18. DOI: 10.2174/1876395201202010001
Publisher ID: TOCERSJ-2-1

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Structural and Electrical Properties of Reaction Bonded Silicon Nitride Ceramics

Hosneara1 , Abul Hasnat, *,2 and Abu Hasan Bhuyan3
1 National University, Bangladesh
2 Departmet of Physics, Jagannath University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
3 Department of Physics, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Physics, Jagannath University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Tel: 01818335620; E-mail mahasnat.phy@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The effects of structural properties on the d.c. and a.c. electrical properties of different weight gain reaction bonded silicon nitride (RBSN) have been studied in this work. The degree of nitridation is assessed by the ‘weight gain’ of the ceramic, the percentage by which the weight is increased in the nitriding reaction. From X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, it is observed that a higher degree of nitriadation sample has strong α-silicon nitride peaks. Intensity of α-silicon nitride peaks decreases with decreasing weight gain. The higher degrees of nitridation, the samples have less significant Si peak. XRD patterns were recorded to calculate the lattice parameters of RBSN. The lattice parameters for three weight gain RBSN samples are found to be a =b = 7.7727 Å, c= 5.6565 Å (26% weight gain), a=b= 7.6272 Å, c= 5.6374 Å (42% weight gain) and a=b=7.6158 Å, c= 5.7732 Å (58.27% weight gain) and are in good agreement with the reported values from XRD patterns. Porosity (%) and surface morphology was observed by SEM.

Keywords:

Silicon nitride ceramic, electrical properties, structural properties.