Fe/Si3N4 composite powder was synthesized by the heterogeneous precipitation-thermal reduction process,and then pressed into flakes under a pressure of 10 MPa.Flakes were sintered by pressureless and hot-pressing at 1 600℃under 0.1 MPa N2. The chemical composition,phases and microstructure of composite powder and sintered flakes were investigated by energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS),X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).The results show that the structure of composite powders is Si3N4 coated by nano Fe.The crystal phases of sintered flakes by pressureless are Fe(Si)compound,SiC and Si3N4.The crystal phases of the sintered samples by hot-pressing are Fe,Fe(Si) compound and Si3N4.It is found that crystal phases flakes obtained by pressureless and hot-pressing are very different.
Effect of Y2O3-MgO addition on heterogeneous precipitation-thermal reduction synthesis and the sintering of Fe-Mo/Si3N4 powders has been investigated. It was found that the whiskers-like β-Si3N4, good wettability phases on Si3N4 surface, and high toughness Fe phase appeared in Fe-Mo/Si3N4 cermets with Y2O3-MgO additives. The results show that Y2O3-MgO additives can effectively optimize the microstructures of Fe-Mo/ Si3N4 cermets, and improve the material mechanical properties. Therefore, it indicated that Y2O3-MgO additives can be used for strengthening of eintered cermets, and the dual function of whiskers self-toughening and different metal-composition toughening can be achieved in Fe-Mo/Si3N4 cermets with Y2O3-MgO additives.
