Superplastic deformation of Si3N4 based nanocomposites reinforced by nanowhiskers

A superplastic deformation of pre-sintered Si3N4-based nanocrystalline ceramics and Si3N4 nano-whisker reinforced composites has been investigated. Superplastic deformation tests have been carried out in the temperature range from 1500 to 1600 °C under 56 kN compression in nitrogen. During the tests, all nano-composites exhibited high rates of deformation (1.6–5.4×10−3 s−1) corresponding to high activation energy in the range of 538–699 kJ/mol. The composites enhanced by Si3N4 nano-whiskers exhibited the formation of anisotropic microstructure with anisotropic mechanical properties. The highest Vickers hardness ~19 GPa and lowest coefficient of dry wear 0.39 was exhibited by the TiN–Si3N4 nano-composite.