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Enhancement of the thermal conductivity of silicon nitride is usually achieved by sacrificing its mechanical properties (bending strength). In this study, β-Si 3 N 4 ceramics were prepared using self-synthesized Y 3 Si 2 C 2 and MgO as sintering additives. It was found that the thermal conductivity of the Si 3 N 4 ceramics was remarkably improved without sacrificing their mechanical properties. The microstructure and properties of the Si 3 N 4 ceramics were analyzed and compared with those of the Y 2 O 3 -MgO additives. The addition of Y 3 Si 2 C 2 eliminated the inherent SiO 2 and introduced nitrogen to increase the N/O ratio of the grain-boundary phase, inducing Si 3 N 4 grain growth, increasing Si 3 N 4 grain contiguity, and reducing lattice oxygen content in Si 3 N 4 . Therefore, by replacing Y 2 O 3 with Y 3 Si 2 C 2 , the thermal conductivity of the Si 3 N 4 ceramics was significantly increased by 31.5% from 85 to 111.8Wm −1 K −1 , but the bending strength only slightly decreased from 704 ± 63MPa to 669 ± 33MPa.