Rj. Xie et al., Preferred orientation of beta-phase and its mechanisms in a fine-grained silicon-nitride-based ceramic, J MATER RES, 16(2), 2001, pp. 590-596
A quantitative texture analysis, including calculations of the orientation
distribution function, is applied to investigate the preferred orientation
of beta -Si3N4 in a fine-grained material containing almost equiaxed grains
that has been hot-pressed, annealed, and plane-strain compressed. The resu
lts show that (i) plane strain compression can produce relatively strong te
xtures that were dependent on the compressive strain: (ii) the basal plane
of hexagonal beta -Si3N4 was normal to the hot-pressing direction for the h
ot-pressed and annealed samples, whereas it was parallel to the stress axis
for deformed samples: and (iii) the mechanisms for texture development wer
e preferred grain growth for the annealed sample and grain rotation for the
hot-pressed and deformed samples, respectively.