Nitridation behaviors of silicon powder doped with various rare earth oxides

Abstract

Nitridation behaviors of silicon powder doped with various rare-earth oxides were studied in order to assess the nitridation enhancing effect of the rare-earth oxides on the formation of reaction bonded silicon nitride. Thermo-gravimetric analysis revealed that the addition of CeO2 and Eu2O3 to Si powder reduced the temperature of the main nitridation reaction and increased the amount of silicon converted to silicon nitride at a given temperature. © 2011 The Ceramic Society of Japan.