Combustion synthesized Y a SiAlON and Ca a SiAlON powders have been consolidated by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) at 1300 1450°C for 10 min, and the mechanical properties of the consolidated bulk samples were investigated. XRD analysis revealed that a SiAlON partially transforms into b SiAlON during the SPS and a bulk of a/b SiAlON mixture was obtained. The fraction of b SiAlON increases with the increase in sintering temperature and the a to b transformation ratio is high for Y a SiAlON compared with Ca a SiAlON. The hardness of the consolidated bulk increases with sintering temperature and after reaching the peak at 1350°C the hardness gradually decreases with temperature in both the cases of Y a SiAlON and Ca a SiAlON. The increase in hardness with temperature arises from increase in density of the sintered body, while the decrease in hardness results from grain growth due to high temperatures. The fracture toughness monotonically increases with temperature and does not show a peak for both SiAlONs, although Y a SiAlON always exhibits higher toughness than Ca a SiAlON. The higher toughness of the Y a SiAlON is attributable to its higher fraction of transformed b SiAlON, because the elongated shape of b SiAlON leads to prevention of crack propagation. Keywords: SiAlON, combustion synthesis, spark plasma sintering, mechanical property, self propagating high temperature synthesis

It has been required to improve the heat efficiency of thermal power generation system for the sake of mitigation of the global warming and resource depletion problems. For improving the heat efficiency, it is effective to increase the steam temperature, and as a result, appropriate heatresistant alloys are needed. Although SUS304 stainless steel and Ni-based superalloys have been proposed as promising heat-resistant alloys until now, there still remain some concerns such as high-temperature corrosion by flaming gas and erosion by combustion ash. Thus, the present authors propose SiAlON ceramic coating on SUS304 and INCONEL X-750 because SiAlON has excellent heat, wear and corrosion resistances. In the present study, brazed bonding between SiAlON and these heat-resistant alloys was attempted with the applications of Cu and Ag as a soft filler material to reduce the residual stress generated due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between SiAlON and the heat-resistant alloys. As for the bonding with the Cu filler, the SiAlON/Cu/SUS joint was successful when the brazing time was short. However, when the brazing time was long (for example, 60 minutes), Fe-based grains were formed in the Cu filler layer, and the cracks were formed in the SiAlON near the joint interface during cooling in the brazing process. It was considered that the Cu filler was hardened by the formation of the Fe-based grains and could not reduce the residual stress. As for the bonding with the Ag filler, on the other hand, the SiAlON/Ag/SUS joint was successful even for a long brazing time. The SiAlON/Ag/INCONEL joint was also successful. The bending strengths of these SiAlON/Cu/ SUS, SiAlON/Ag/SUS and SiAlON/Ag/INCONEL joints were evaluated by a three point bending test, and the results were approximately 200, 270 and 350 MPa, respectively. In all cases fracture occurred in the SiAlON, which means that the SiAlON and the alloys were strongly bonded.

Combustion-synthesized Y-α-SiAlON and Ca-α-SiAlON powders were consolidated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 1300-1450 C for 10 min, and the mechanical properties of the consolidated bulk samples were investigated. XRD analysis revealed that α-SiAlON partially transforms into β-SiAlON during the SPS and a bulk mixture of α/β-SiAlON was obtained. The fraction of β-SiAlON increased with the increase in sintering temperature and the α to β transformation ratio was higher for Y-α-SiAlON than for Ca-α-SiAlON. The hardness of the consolidated bulk increased with sintering temperature, and after reaching a maximum at 1350 C, the hardness gradually decreased with temperature in both the Y-α-SiAlON and Ca-α-SiAlON. The increase in hardness with temperature arises from the increased density of the sintered body, while the decrease in hardness results from grain growth due to an increase in temperature. The fracture toughness tended to increase with temperature and did not show a maximum for either α-or β-SiAlON, although the Y-α-SiAlON always exhibited a greater toughness than the Ca-α-SiAlON. The greater toughness of the Y-α-SiAlON is attributable to its higher fraction of transformed β-SiAlON, because the elongated shape of the β-SiAlON leads to the prevention of crack propagation.

It has been required to improve the heat efficiency of thermal power generation system for the sake of mitigation of the global warming and resource depletion problems. For improving the heat efficiency, it is effective to increase the steam temperature, and as a result, appropriate heat-resistant alloys are needed. Although SUS304 stainless steel and Ni-based superalloys have been proposed as promising heat-resistant alloys until now, there still remain some concerns such as high-temperature corrosion by flaming gas and erosion by combustion ash. Thus, the present authors propose SiAlON ceramic coating on SUS304 and INCONEL X-750 because SiAlON has excellent heat, wear and corrosion resistances. In the present study, brazed bonding between SiAlON and these heat-resistant alloys was attempted with the applications of Cu and Ag as a soft filler material to reduce the residual stress generated due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between SiAlON and the heat-resistant alloys. As for the bonding with the Cu filler, the SiAlON/Cu/SUS joint was successful when the brazing time was short. However, when the brazing time was long （for example, 60 min） , Fe-based grains were formed in the Cu filler layer, and the cracks were formed in the SiAlON near the joint interface during cooling in the brazing process. It was considered that the Cu filler was hardened by the formation of the Fe-based grains and could not reduce the residual stress. As for the bonding with the Ag filler, on the other hand, the SiAlON/Ag/SUS joint was successful even for a long brazing time. The SiAlON/Ag/INCONEL joint was also successful. The bending strengths of these SiAlON/Cu/SUS, SiAlON/Ag/SUS and SiAlON/Ag/INCONEL joints were evaluated by a three point bending test, and the results were approximately 200, 270 and 350 MPa, respectively. In all cases fracture occurred in the SiAlON, which means that the SiAlON and the alloys were strongly bonded.