Synthesis of Silicon Nitride from Rice Husk and Sugarcane Bagasse Ashes

Silicon nitride (Si3 N4 ) SNA, SNB, SNC and SND were synthesized by hydrothermal process at temperature of 100o C, 150o C, 200o C and 300o C using Rice Husk Ash (RHA) and Sugarcane Bagasse Ash (SBA) respectively. The percentage of silica ranges from 90.10 to 94.19 with minute impurities.Based on their infrared spectra, for SNA absorption band at 470.6 cm-1 is attributed to Si-N (stretching), which were also observed with SNB, SNC and SND, a weak band at 671.2 cm-1 which is characteristic of a silicon nitride Si-N-Si stretching vibration was observed, for SNC, peak at 574 cm-1 attribute to α-silicon nitride, as temperature increases the spectrum becomes sharper. X-ray diffraction pattern indicates that SNA material contained 64.6% α-phase and 27.8% β-phase silicon nitride. Therefore, rice husks and sugarcane bagasse have great potential as a raw material for producing Si3 N4 , by the hydrothermal method