Key Engineering Materials, cilt.403, ss.243-244, 2009 (Scopus)
An effective approach for preparing electrically conductive SiAlON-TiN composites was developed. Granules of a designed composition of α-β SiAlON was obtained by spray drying and coated with varying amounts of TiO 2 powder homogenously by mechanical mixing. Fully dense composites were obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS) under a pressure of 50 MPa at 1650°C for 5min. According to the SEM analysis, unique microstructures containing continuously segregated in-situ formed TiN phase in 3-D were achieved. Additionally, XRD studies revealed that all TiO2 was successfully converted to TiN. The resistivity of the α-β SiAlON (1×1011 Ω.m) was drastically reduced with the addition of only 5 vol. % TiO2 (2×10-4 Ω.m).