Densification microstructure and properties of Si3N4-TI-C,N-composites

Dense Si3N4-TiN-composites with 20 - 50 wt-percent TiN with various grain sizes were produced by hot pressing and gas-pressure sintering under nitrogen gas atmosphere. The dependence of the densification behaviour on the TiN-content and on the grain size of TiN was investigated. Starting from the thermodynamical considerations the influence of the C- content in the Ti(C,N) on the densification was analysed and tested by experiment.