To provide a composite ceramic member which has a super-fine dispersed phase and is suitable for a sliding member having excellent wear resistance, friction resistance and toughness, and to provide a method of manufacturing the same.
In the composite ceramic material, the fine particles of a metal silicide or a metal oxide which is different in element species from the essential component of the ceramic material are dispersed at least in the boundary face of the crystal particles or a grain boundary phase of the ceramic or the metal, and the concentration of the dispersed particles gradually decreases throughout the inside from the surface of the dispersed phase to form a gradient. The method of manufacturing the composite ceramic material is composed of: a process of embedding a formed body, a sintered compact or a temporarily calcined body of a ceramic having opened pores into metallic powder or applying metallic slurry on the surface of the sintered compact; and a process of densifying the composite ceramic material by taking metallic vapor into the opened pores of the ceramic under a high temperature non-oxidizing atmosphere to form the dispersed phase in the sintered compact.
IIZUKA TAKEYO