April 2025

Journal

Strength and thermal shock resistance of porous reaction-bonded silicon nitride by direct nitriding of binder jet additively manufactured silicon

By:
Aguirre, Trevor G; Cramer, Corson L; Martinez, Marco C; Moser, Jeremy L; Richardson, Michael D; Cakmak, Ercan ; Wang, Hsin ; Kunc, Vlastimil ; Muth, Thomas R; Klett, James W
Journal Name:
Nature npj advanced manufacturing
Page Number:
13
Volume:
2
Publication Date:
April 14, 2025
View DOI Listing:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44334-025-00026-z

Abstract

The direct nitridation of binder jet additively manufactured silicon to produce porous silicon nitride was explored. The Taguchi Design of Experiments method was used to systematically study the effect of time, temperature, and nitrogen flow rate on the direct nitriding of binder jet additively manufactured silicon to produce porous reaction-bonded silicon nitride (RBSN). Highly porous (61%) samples with high conversion (99%) to silicon nitride were achieved using a thermal profile that utilized two isothermal holds. Further, it was shown that these samples exhibited thermal shock resistance and a low coefficient of thermal expansion. These results indicate that RBSN is readily achievable through additive manufacturing.