The observation of strong absorption of the yttrium L_α line in sialon ceramics

β-sialon ceramics sintered with yttria additives have been studied with the use of an electron probe X-ray analysis (EPMA). Sialon ceramics were prepared from a carbothermally derived β-sialon powder and then sintered in a nitrogen atmosphere with yttria admixture. The above process was followed by annealing in flowing nitrogen. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations have shown that the sintered material contains a glassy phase (Y-Si-Al-O-N) on the grain boundaries. X-ray diffraction (XRD) after annealing in nitrogen revealed the presence of a considerable amount of yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG). The higher voltage of 30 kV was used in order to excite the yttrium K_α, radiation (14.96 keV) at an appropriate overvoltage ratio because in some phases of the material, the disappearance of the yttrium L_α line has been observed during EPMA examination at an accelerating voltage of 15 kV in energy dispersive spectra (EDS). The intensity of the yttrium K_α, line was sufficiently high, while the Y L_α line was not seen in the ED spectrum. Because the position of the yttrium L_α line (1.922 keV) is very close to the Si (K) absorption edge (1.84 keV), the strong absorption at this edge is probably responsible for the effect. This result should be considered as a serious warning in the case of EPMA (EDS) studies on compounds or mixtures suspected to contain both silicon and yttrium, because at electrons energies lower than 15 keV, the presence of yttrium in materials can go unnoticed. In wavelength dispersive spectra (WDS) obtained at 15 keV the intensity of the yttrium L_α line was also very low but measurable.