The nature of structural inhomogeneity in ceramics produced by zirconium nitridation

Abstract

The morphology of transverse fracture surfaces of one-dimensional zirconium nitride samples prepared by heating zirconium in an argon gas atmosphere (at a pressure of 1.2 × 10⁵ Pa) at a temperature of 1500°C for 4, 6, 11, 16, 21, and 60 min has been studied by scanning electron microscopy. The forming ZrN ceramics have been shown to have a bilayer structure, which results in markedly different fracture surface morphologies. The formation of polycrystalline layers differing in grain size is interpreted in terms of multiorientation ZrN endotaxy when a certain nitrogen concentration in the α-Zr-based solid solution is reached.