Abstract:
The effects of structural properties on the
d.c. and a.c. electrical properties of different weight
gain reaction bonded silicon nitride (RBSN) have
been studied in this work. The degree of nitridation is
assessed by the ‘weight gain’ of the ceramic, the
percentage by which the weight is increased in the
nitriding reaction. From X-ray diffraction (XRD)
patterns, it is observed that a higher degree of
nitradation sample has strong α-silicon nitride peaks.
Intensity of α-silicon nitride peaks decreases with
decreases weight gain. The higher degrees of
nitridation, the samples have less significant Si peak.
XRD patterns were recorded to calculate the lattice
parameters of RBSN. The lattice parameters for three
weight gain RBSN samples are found to be a =b =
7.7727 Å, c= 5.6565 Å (26% weight gain), a=b=
7.6272 Å, c= 5.6374 Å (42% weight gain) and
a=b=7.6158 Å, c= 5.7732 Å (58.27% weight gain)
and are in good agreement with the reported values
from XRD patterns. Porosity (%) and surface
morphology was observed by SEM.
