Nano-Si3N4/nano-BN composite has higher values of Vicker and Knoop hardness, as compared with

the micro-sized Si3N4/BN composite.

Micro hardness (H
v
) of nano-silicon nitride Si
3
N
4
doped with BN and fabricated through spark plasma
sintering is as high as 13.9 GPa
Micro hardness (H
v
) of pressure less sintered silicon carbide fabricated through tape casting is
26.13Gpa, higher than liquid phase sintered silicon carbide (LPSSiC) fabricated through hot
pressing.
Micro hardness (H
v
) of liquid phase sintered silicon nitride (LPSSiN) doped with AlN and Y
2
O
3
and
fabricated through hot pressing is 17.44 GPa higher than other selected silicon nitride materials.
Micro hardness (H
v
) of Si
3
N
4
doped with 10% titanium Nitride fabricated through hot pressing is
lower than Si
3
N
4
doped with AlN and Y
2
O
3
material.
Micro hardness (H
v
) of SiC doped with B and graphite and fabricated through tape casting is 13.05
GPa.
Vickers hardness value of all selected materials is higher than the Knoop hardness value except for
Si
3
N
4
doped with TiN.
Fracture toughness of doped with TiN is 5.5 MPa higher than the monolithic Si
3
N
4
because sintering
additives and residual Intergranular grain boundary in liquid phase sintering provides toughening
mechanisms after sintering.
Fracture toughness of SiC is 2.84 MPa lower than the other ceramic materials. The microstructure in
sintered silicon carbide (SSiC), results in predominantly trans-granular fracture, which results in a
very low fracture toughness, reducing its usage as an engineering material.
Lower coefficient of friction was observed for Si
3
N
4
/ Nano-sized - Si
3
N
4
+5% wt BN
tribopair(0.54) as comapred to Si
3
N
4
/Micro-sized - Si
3
N
4
tribopair.(0.63)
Coefficient of friction of Sialon / silicon nitride decreases from 0.315 to 0.118 with increase
in temperature from 200-500C under normal load of 20 N.
Coefficient of friction of SiC increases with the increase in temperature.
Wear resistance of Nano-sized Si
3
N
4
/ BN composite is higher, as compared to that of
Micro-sized Si
3
N4 composite. The improvement in the wear resistance is attributed to lower
values of mechanical severity factor. Mechanical severity factor varies with the hardness and
fracture toughness.
Wear coefficeient of microsized Si
3
N
4
increases with the increase in temperature.
Wear coefficeient of Nano-sized Si
3
N
4
+ 5 % wt BN increases with the increase in
temperature.
Wear coefficeient of Sialon increases with the increase in temperature.
Wear coefficeient of SiC increases with the increase in temperature