Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Toshiba Materials Co., Ltd.

Haruhiko Yamaguti

Katsuyuki Aoki

Kai Funaki

Michiyasu Komatsu

Yutaka Abe

Minoru Takao

The sliding member according to the embodiment includes a silicon nitride sintered body that includes silicon nitride crystal grains and a grain boundary phase, in which a percentage of a number of the silicon nitride crystal grains including dislocation defect portions inside the silicon nitride crystal grains among any 50 of the silicon nitride crystal grains having completely visible contours in a 50 μm×50 μm observation region of any cross section or surface of the silicon nitride sintered body is not less than 0% and not more than 10%. The percentage is more preferably not less than 0% and not more than 3%.

Sliding member, and bearing, motor, and drive device using the same

The present invention provides a silicon nitride wear resistant member comprising a silicon nitride sintered compact containing &#x3b2;-SiNcrystal grains as a main component, 2 to 4% by mass of a rare earth element in terms of oxide, 2 to 6% by mass of Al in terms of oxide, and 0.1 to 5% by mass of Hf in terms of oxide, wherein the silicon nitride sintered compact has rare earth-Hf&#x2014;O compound crystals; in an arbitrary section, an area ratio of the rare earth-Hf&#x2014;O compound crystals in a grain boundary phase per unit area of 30 &#x3bc;m&#xd7;30 &#x3bc;m is 5 to 50%; and variation of the area ratios of the rare earth-Hf&#x2014;O compound crystals between the unit areas is 10% or less. Due to above structure, there can be provided a wear resistant member comprising the silicon nitride sintered compact having an excellent wear resistance and processability.

Silicon nitride wear resistant member and method for producing silicon nitride sintered compact

The present invention provides a silicon nitride sintered body comprising a silicon nitride crystalline particle and a grain boundary phase, the silicon nitride sintered body having an area ratio of the grain boundary phase per 100 &#x3bc;m&#xd7;100 &#x3bc;m unit area of 15 to 35% when an arbitrary cross section thereof is photographed. Further, it is preferable that the area ratio of the grain boundary phase per 100 &#x3bc;m&#xd7;100 &#x3bc;m unit area is 15 to 25%. Furthermore, the silicon nitride sintered body is suitable for a wear resistant member. Due to above structure, there can be provided a silicon nitride sintered body and a wear resistant member having a high processability (workability) and an excellent sliding property.

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Yokohama, Japan

Haruhiko Yamaguti