15,17,24,25) shear modulus, 12,14) Young's modulus 12,14,16) and density 14,15,17) ) of rare-earth containing oxide and/or oxynitride glasses that are the grain boundary phase of Si 3 N 4 ceramics sintered with rare-earth oxide additives, and thus, can also affect grain growth of b-Si 3 N 4 itself. However, to our best knowledge, there are no available data on the physical properties of rare-earth containing high temperature melts. Here, we intend to measure the viscosity (bulk property) and the surface tension (surface property) of RE 2 O 3 -MgO-SiO 2 (REϭY, Gd, Nd and La) melts, and to make clear the effect of rare-earth oxide additions on these physical properties.
Experimental
Sample PreparationSamples for viscosity and surface tension measurements were prepared from reagent grade Y 2 O 3 , Gd 2 O 3 , Nd 2 O 3 , La 2 O 3 , MgO and SiO 2 powders (Sigma-Aldrich Japan). These reagents were precisely weighed to form given compositions (cf.