Fabrication and Analysis of β-Sialon Whiskers from Fly Ash by Carbon Thermal Reduction-Nitridation

β-Sialonwhiskers which the molecular structuralformula of β-Sialonis Si3Al3O3N5(z = 3) were synthesized from fly ash and graphite under appropriate technological conditions by carbothermal reduction–nitridation process. The effects of carbon content, reaction temperature and reaction time on synthesis ofβ-Sialonwere analysed by XRD, SEM techniques. The results proved that, the condition of the carbon content over 80% is the best parameter to promote theβ-Sialon powder production. Compared to other kinds of temperature, 1430 °C is the optimal temperature to promoteβ-Sialon powder generation. Compared to 3h, holding time of 6h is promoting theβ-Sialon powder generation.The main morphology of β-Sialon was rod-like whisker.

Study on the Corrosion Resistance of Slag α-Sialon Ceramics to NaOH and HNO3

The corrosion resistance of slag α-Sialon ceramics, preparedviapressure-less sintering and hot-pressing from slag α-Sialon powder, to NaOH and HNO3was studied in this work. The result shows that slag α-Sialon ceramics have exellent corrosion resistance to NaOH and good resistance to HNO3. The corrosion mechanism and corrosion mode of acid and alkali to slag α-Sialon ceramics was investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the results indicate that the corrosion of acid and alkali to hot-pressing ceramic is the slow surface corrosion, not only on the crystal grains, but also on the grain boundary phase, while the fast pitting is the dominant corrosion mode for pressure-less ceramic. The corrosion of NaOH solution to ceramics mainly occurred the grain boundary phase, while not only the grain boundary phase, but also crystal phase are corroded by HNO3.

Study on Phase Stability during Pressure-Less Sintering Process of Slag α-Sialon Powder and Properties of As-Sintered Materials

The pressure-less sintering of slag α-Sialon powder, derived from slag wastes by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis technology, was carried out and the phase assemblages of slag α-Sialon sintered at different temperatures were studied. The results showed that the formation of β-Sialon phase did occur during the pressure-less sintering and was restrained to some extent via mass diffusion of Ca2+/Mg2+ added in embedded powder in samples. α-Sialon phase with two different unit cells was detected in samples sintered at 1700°C and above, and the formation mechanism was also discussed.

Fabrication and Properties of Al2O3-SiC/Sialon Composite Refractories

Sialon powder was synthesized using low grade bauxite as raw materials by carbothermal reduction-nitridation reaction. The influence of synthesizing temperatures (1300°C, 1350°C, 1400°C, 1450°C, 1500°C and 1550°C) on the phases of the final products was studied by XRD technique. β-Sialon (Z=3) formed at 1350°C and decreased when the temperature was higher than 1450°C. The optimizing reaction temperature for preparing Sialon was 1450°C. The Al2O3-SiC/Sialon composite refractories were prepared at 200°C, 400°C and 600°C for 24h with white corundum, brown corundum, SiC, Sialon powders prepared at 1450°C and calcium aluminate cement. The bulk density, apparent porosity, water absorption and bending strength of the Al2O3-SiC/Sialon composite refractories at room temperature were studied. The results show that the bulk density decreased and then increased with the enhancing of the temperature and reached the highest value of 2.43g/cm3 at 200°C. The apparent porosity and water absorption reached the lowest values of 26.68% and 10.99% at 200°C respectively. The bending strength decreased as the temperature increased, reached the highest value of 0.73MPa at 200°C.

Effects of the Z Value on the Properties of β-Sialon/ZrO2 Composites

β-Sialon/ZrO2 composites were prepared using 10 wt. % β-Sialon powder (where the z =1, 2, 3, respectively) and 90 wt. % ZrO2 powder as the starting materials. The effects of the Z value of β-Sialon on the bulk density, apparent porosity, water absorption rate, room temperature modulus of rupture, thermal shock resistance, microstructure and composition of the composites were investigated. The microstructure of sintered specimens was analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), and X-Ray diffraction (XRD). The results revealed that with increase of the Z value of β–Sialon, bulk density gradually increased, apparent porosity and water absorption rate gradually decreased. The specimen possessed a maximum MOR (71.46MPa) when the z=2. In carbon embedded condition, the residual strength ratio of the specimen reached 60% and the lowest thermal expansion rate was obtained (0.55%) when the z=1. The phase compositions were cubic ZrO2 (c-ZrO2) and monoclinic ZrO2 (m-ZrO2). β-Sialon/ZrO2 composites exhibited overall optimum performance when the z equals 2