Vickers hardness of β-SiAlON prepared by a combination of combustion synthesis and spark plasma sintering

Abstract

This paper describes the Vickers hardness (Hv) of dense β-Si 6-zAlzOzN8-z (z = 1, 2, and 3) prepared by the combination of combustion synthesis (CS) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The Vickers hardness was measured by a Vickers microhardness tester in the applied load ranging from 0.981 N (0.1 kg) to 19.614 N (2.0 kg) at room temperature. A significant indentation size effect (ISE) is observed for each sample at low indentation test load. The ISE shows more clearly on the β-SiAlON with z = 3, while it reaches a saturation value when the applied indentation load F ≥ 4.903 N for z = 1 and 2. In conclusion, the Vickers hardness is 17.6 GPa for z = 1, 16.2 GPa for z = 2, and 14.7 GPa for z = 3 under the load of 19.614 N. © 2010 The Ceramic Society of Japan.