Structural behaviour of nitrogen in oxide ceramics

The solubility of nitrogen in molten oxides has significant consideration for two quite different types of engineering materials. The implication of a knowledge of the role of nitrogen in these oxides for refining high nitrogen steels in obvious but similar nitrogen-bearing oxide melts are of critical importance in the densification of silicon nitride ceramics. Present paper discusses structural behaviour and phase equilibria qualitatively in the light of knowledge available on slag structure through infrared and x-ray diffraction. Nitrogen solubility in glasses and related sialon based ceramics may be of paramount importance to understand the role of nitrogen in these materials as these oxides are similar in composition, structure and characteristics to sintering glasses in nitrogen ceramics. It is quite logical to infer that the same oxide model can be applied in order to massively produce nitrogen alloyed steels which are actively competing to be the materials of the next century. (author)