Verfahren zur Herstellung von Kompositwerkstoffen und Vertreter solcher Kompositwerkstoffe

摘要

The aim of the invention is to economically produce composite materials which contain silicon nitride and metal silicide and which comprise determined electrical properties while using few pieces of equipment. According to the invention, it should be possible to produce shaped bodies with close to final contours from the composite materials before sintering and to provide examples of such composite materials. To these ends, the invention provides a method in which a starting material containing Si3N4 and metal silicide is subjected to gas pressure sintering in an atmosphere containing nitrogen. In addition, Me5Si3 is introduced as metal silicide into the starting material. The nitrogen partial pressure is determined according to the sintering temperature such that Si3N4 remains stabile at the lower limit of the applicable area and Me5Si3 remains stabile at the upper limit. The invention also provides a composite material which contains silicon and whose silicon-containing constituents are comprised of Si3N4 and of a metal silicide, whereby the metal silicide is selected from the group Nb5Si3, V5Si3, Ta5Si3 and W5Si3.