THE DIRECT SYNTHESIS OF SIALON POWDER IN A PLASMA REACTOR

SIALON IS A WELL ESTABLISHED, HIGH TECHNOLOGY CERAMIC UTILIZED IN INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS SUCH AS CUTTING TOOLS AND ENGINE COMPONENTS. IT IS PRODUCED THROUGH THE INSITU REACTION OF ITS CONSTITUENTS SI3N4, A1N AND A12O3 PLUS SINTERING AIDS. THERE IS CONSIDERABLE VARIATION IN PROPERTIES AND RELIABILITY DUE TO THE PRECURSOR POWDERS PURITY AND SOURCE. IT WOULD BE DESIRABLE IF A HIGH PURITY SIALON POWDER WAS AVAILABLE FOR PRODUCING CONSISTENT SUPERIOR PROPERTY COMPONENTS SIMILAR TO ALL OTHER CERAMIC PROCESSING THAT UTILIZES POWDER PROCESSING AND THUS AVOID THE REQUIRED INSITU REACTION PROCESS. PLASMA SYNTHESIS HAS BEEN UTILIZED TO PRODUCE MANY MATERIALS ADVANTAGEOUSLY. IT IS PROPOSED TO DEVELOP AN INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA SYNTHESIS PROCESS FOR THE DIRECT PRODUCTION OF A HIGH PURITY SIALON POWDER. SCREENING REACTIONS WILL BEPERFORMED TO SELECT THE OPTIMUM PLASMA FREQUENCY AND PRECURSOR TO PRODUCE SIALON POWDER. THE SYNTHESIS PROCESS WILL BE OPTIMIZED WITH THE PRODUCED SIALON POWDER CONSOLIDATED FOR PROPERTY EVALUATION AND COMPARISON TO INSITU PRODUCED SIALON. A MODEL WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR THE SYNTHESIS REACTION TO DIRECTLY PRODUCE SIALON POWDER.