A wear resistant member formed of silicon nitride sintered body having a volume of 4000 mm 3 or more, the silicon nitride sintered body containing 1 to 5 mass % of a rare earth component in terms of rare earth element, 1 to 6 mass % of an Al component in terms of Al element, 10 to 3500 ppm of an Fe component in terms of Fe element, and 10 to 1000 ppm of a Ca component in terms of Ca element, wherein a β-phase ratio of silicon nitride crystal grains is 95% or more, a maximum longer diameter of the silicon nitride crystal grains is 40 μm or less, and each of dispersions in Vickers hardness and fracture toughness of an inner portion of the wear resistant member is within a range of ±10%. According to this structure, the wear resistant member can be manufactured with a low cost, and there can be provided a wear resistant member comprising a silicon nitride sintered body excellent in reliability and the dispersion in characteristics is effectively suppressed.

Wear resistant member, wear resistant device and method for manufacturing the wear resistant member

An anti-wear member comprising a sintered silicone nitride material having a volume of 4000 mm 3 or more, characterized in that the sintered silicone nitride material contains from 1 to 5% by mass, in terms of rare-earth element, of a rare-earth element component, from 1 to 6% by mass, in terms of Al element, of an Al element component, from 10 to 3500 ppm, in terms of Fe element, of an Fe element component, and from 10 to 1000 ppm, in terms of Ca element, of a Ca element component; 95% or more of the silicon nitride crystal grains are in the β phase; the maximum major diameter of the silicon nitride crystal grains is 40 μm or less; and the variations in the Vickers hardness and facture toughness inside the sintered silicone nitride material are each within ±10%. According to the above-described constitution, it is possible to provide an anti-wear member comprising a sintered silicone nitride material which can be produced at a low cost, has characteristics with little variations and, therefore, is highly reliable.

Xue-Tao Luo

Papers

Preparation and toughening characterization of high fracture toughness Si3N4 ceramic with rodlike structure