Effects of TiB2 addition on performance of Si3N4-SiC refractories
To improve the performance,reaction sintered Si3N4-SiC refractories were prepared by reaction sintering at 1 400 ℃ for 2 h using SiC(particles and fines)and Si powder as the raw materials,TiB2 fine powder as the additive.The effects of the TiB2 fine powder addition(0,0.2%,0.4%,0.6%,and 0.8%,by mass)on the bulk density,modulus of rupture,phase composition,and microstructure of the reaction sin-tered Si3N4-SiC refractories were studied using MIP,XRD,and SEM,and the densification mechanism was analyzed.The results show that:(1)adding an appropriate amount of TiB2 helps to improve the bulk densi-ty and hot modulus of rupture at 1 200 ℃,increasing the proportion of small pores(≤ 1 μm);(2)with the increasing TiB2 addition,the content of Si2N2O impurity phase decreases,the nitridation rate of silicon pow-der improves;Si3N4 exists as a whisker structure at the beginning,then evolves into well-developed long rods,and finally grows abnormally;(3)the densification mechanism is as follows:a small amount of TiB2 can increase the partial pressure of SiO gasous phase and promote the growth of Si3N4 whiskers,which fol-low the gas-solid growth mechanism;when increasing the TiB2 addition to 0.6%,Si3N4 develops into long-rod shapes under moderate high-temperature liquid phase,forming a three-dimensional network structure;when continuing to increase the TiB2 addition to 0.8%,the liquid phase in the samples increases again,and the rod-shaped Si3N4 grows abnormally;(4)when the TiB2 addition is 0.6%,the comprehensive perform-ance of samples is the best,with the bulk density of 2.75 g·cm-3,apparent porosity of 11.6%,cold mod-ulus of rupture of 40.2 MPa,and hot modulus of rupture at 1 200 ℃ of 47.4 MPa.