Er-SiAlON glasses were produced by melting appropriate powder mixtures under nitrogen at 1715 degreesC using a cation ratio composition of Er:Si:Al = 3.45:3:2 and with varying nitrogen contents (N= 5 to 22 equivalent %). ...

An advantage of alpha-SiAlON is that it can accommodate cations of sintering additives and hence reduces the amount of deleterious remnant intergranular amorphous phase. However, it is believed that relatively large cations ...