Patent ID: 6797660
Filing Date: 2004-09-28
Classification: C04B,F16C

Abstract:
A wear resistant member, comprising:a ball member consisting essentially of a silicon nitride sintered body; wherein the silicon nitride sintered body comprises from 75 to 97% by mass of silicon nitride, from 0.2 to 5% by mass of particles of titanium nitride and from 2 to 20% by mass of a grain boundary phase comprising a Siâ€”Râ€”Alâ€”Oâ€”N compound, where R is a rare earth element; wherein the particles of titanium nitride have a long axis of 0.04 &mgr;m or more and 1 &mgr;m or less, and at least 80% by volume of the particles of titanium nitride have an aspect ratio in the range of from 1.0 to 1.2, wherein the ball member has a rolling fatigue life of 400 hr or more when tested with a thrust bearing testing machine, under the conditions of opponent material of a SUJ2 steel plane table provided by JIS G4805, a maximum contact stress of 5.9 GPa, a ball, and a number of rotation of 1200 rpm, and the rolling fatigue life is measured until a surface of the ball member is peeled off.