Effect of diamond doping on carbothermal reduction reaction and properties of Si3N4 ceramics

Effect of diamond doping on carbothermal reduction reaction and properties of Si3N4 ceramics | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Effect of diamond doping on carbothermal reduction reaction and properties of Si 3 N 4 ceramics Wenlei Jia, Rencong Geng, Ping Yang, Mingwei Li, Wenhan Qi, Ju Zhou, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9261999/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Si 3 N 4 ceramics were sintered at 1900℃ for 12 h with Y 2 O 3 and MgSiN 2 as sintering aids under 1 MPa nitrogen pressure. The effects of diamond with different particle sizes (1,2 μm) as carbon source on the microstructure, thermal properties and carbothermal reduction behavior of Si 3 N 4 ceramics were systematically studied. The results show that the carbothermal reduction process introduced by diamond significantly reduces the oxygen content and increases the N/O ratio of the secondary phase at the grain boundary. Among them, the sample with 1μm diamond (SNC-1) showed the best reaction efficiency: the fine-grained diamond had a higher specific surface area and stronger reactivity, which promoted the uniform carbothermal reduction reaction and effectively removed the oxygen impurities at the grain boundary. In the final dense Si 3 N 4 ceramics, although the strength of the SNC-1 sample with 1 μm diamond is slightly sacrificed, with the decrease of grain boundary oxygen content, the content of β-Si 3 N 4 increases, the grain morphology develops into a rod shape and the size is obviously coarsened, forming a microstructure that is more conducive to heat conduction. Therefore, SNC-1 achieves a balance between thermal conductivity and mechanical properties, and improves thermal conductivity while maintaining high strength. This is of great significance for the application scenarios that pursue the synergy of high thermal conductivity and good mechanical properties. Si3N4 ceramics Diamond Thermal conductivity Mechanical properties Microstructure Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9261999","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":619163724,"identity":"8143ba97-15f7-428d-9c6d-4d945cd88efa","order_by":0,"name":"Wenlei Jia","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Key Laboratory of Precious Metal Functional Materials 650106, PR China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wenlei","middleName":"","lastName":"Jia","suffix":""},{"id":619163725,"identity":"4b5ea1ae-baf8-414c-82eb-a6a52b43ee06","order_by":1,"name":"Rencong Geng","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kunming Institute of Precious Metals","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rencong","middleName":"","lastName":"Geng","suffix":""},{"id":619163728,"identity":"7336823c-8b81-4a67-9f0e-ef20ab953bb6","order_by":2,"name":"Ping Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Sino-Platinum Electronic Materials (Yunnan) Co. 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03:23:23","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9261999/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9261999/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106404661,"identity":"f1e03462-bc35-4f21-842e-105abbab8d87","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-08 09:16:28","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1117221,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9261999/v1_covered_6ce3e2e5-865f-4679-924d-e4e9cb6ec7cf.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eEffect of diamond doping on carbothermal reduction reaction and properties of Si\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003eN\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e ceramics\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Si3N4 ceramics, Diamond, Thermal conductivity, Mechanical properties, Microstructure","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9261999/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9261999/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eSi\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003eN\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e ceramics were sintered at 1900℃ for 12 h with Y\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e and MgSiN\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e as sintering aids under 1 MPa nitrogen pressure. The effects of diamond with different particle sizes (1,2 μm) as carbon source on the microstructure, thermal properties and carbothermal reduction behavior of Si\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003eN\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e ceramics were systematically studied. The results show that the carbothermal reduction process introduced by diamond significantly reduces the oxygen content and increases the N/O ratio of the secondary phase at the grain boundary. Among them, the sample with 1μm diamond (SNC-1) showed the best reaction efficiency: the fine-grained diamond had a higher specific surface area and stronger reactivity, which promoted the uniform carbothermal reduction reaction and effectively removed the oxygen impurities at the grain boundary. In the final dense Si\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003eN\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e ceramics, although the strength of the SNC-1 sample with 1 μm diamond is slightly sacrificed, with the decrease of grain boundary oxygen content, the content of β-Si\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003eN\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e increases, the grain morphology develops into a rod shape and the size is obviously coarsened, forming a microstructure that is more conducive to heat conduction. Therefore, SNC-1 achieves a balance between thermal conductivity and mechanical properties, and improves thermal conductivity while maintaining high strength. This is of great significance for the application scenarios that pursue the synergy of high thermal conductivity and good mechanical properties.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Effect of diamond doping on carbothermal reduction reaction and properties of Si3N4 ceramics","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-08 04:33:25","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9261999/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"5faa25a7-373f-49d5-82a9-7f058942b72e","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 8th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-30T09:08:54+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-08 04:33:25","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9261999","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9261999","identity":"rs-9261999","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}