3M™ Silicon Nitride Materials

Trusted in Demanding Applications
3M™ Silicon Nitride is a high-strength, lightweight ceramic material offering an excellent combination of material properties such as thermal shock resistance and high fracture toughness. These properties make 3M silicon nitride a good material choice for demanding applications in a variety of industries, including foundries, electronics, oil and gas, power generation, automotive, and aerospace.

Insights into the Advantages of the 3M Manufacturing Process
To maintain optimal quality standards, our 3M silicon nitride is produced at 3M manufacturing plants, using unique compositions and processing techniques. These processes yield a fully dense and nonporous microstructure of interlocking needle-shaped grains. This microstructure toughens the silicon nitride by a crack-deflection process similar to that found in composite materials. The result is a monolithic silicon nitride with extremely high hardness and increased fracture toughness. This can translate to improved mechanical reliability compared to other ceramic materials.

Grades of 3M™ Silicon Nitride include:

• 147-1B (reaction bonded): lower-cost alternative to fully dense grades
• 147-31N (gas pressure sintered): fully dense grade with extreme hardness, increased fracture toughness
• Sintered: gas-tight, excellent temperature response

About 3M Advanced Ceramics
These advanced ceramic products are manufactured at ISO 9001 certified facilities. Our manufacturing processes are optimized for quality, efficiency and consistency – helping ensure reliable and repeatable product performance. We have more than 85 years of experience in designing and manufacturing cutting-edge ceramic solutions, and we continually work to develop new applications for ceramic materials in cooperation with our customers and with research institutions.