Microstructures such as intergranular glassy films (IGFs) are ubiquitous in many structural ceramics. They control many of the important physical properties of polycrystalline ceramics and can be influenced during processing to modify the performance of devices that contain them. In recent years, there has been intense research, both experimentally and computationally, on the structure and properties of IGFs. Unlike grain boundaries or dislocations with well-defined crystalline planes, the atomic scale structure of IGFs, their fundamental electronic interactions, and their bonding characteristics are far more complicated and not well known. In this paper, we present the results of theoretical simulations using ab initio methods on an IGF model in $\beta {\text{-Si}}_3{\text{N}}_4$ with prismatic crystalline planes. The 907-atom model has a dimension of $14.533\text{Å}\times 15.225\text{Å}\times 47.420\text{Å}$. The IGF layer is perpendicular to the $z$ axis, $16.4\text{Å}$ wide, and contains 72 Si, 32 N, and 124 O atoms. Based on this model, the mechanical and elastic properties, the electronic structure, the interatomic bonding, the localization of defective states, the distribution of electrostatic potential, and the optical dielectric function are evaluated and compared with crystalline $\beta {\text{-Si}}_3{\text{N}}_4$. We have also performed a theoretical tensile experiment on this model by incrementally extending the structure in the direction perpendicular to the IGF plane until the model fully separated. It is shown that fracture occurs at a strain of 9.42% with a maximum stress of 13.9 GPa. The fractured segments show plastic behavior and the formation of surfacial films on the $\beta {\text{-Si}}_3{\text{N}}_4$. These results are very different from those of a previously studied basal plane model [J. Chen et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 256103 (2005)] and add insights to the structure and behavior of IGFs in polycrystalline ceramics. The implications of these results and the need for further investigations are discussed.

• Received 31 March 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.81.214120