Fully dense β-Sialon ceramics were fabricated from SHS-prepared β-Sialon powders with 6wt% Y2O3 as additive in a TE103 single mode cavity microwave oven operating at 2.45 GHz. Proper insulation configuration and sintering measures were adopted to achieve rapid and stable heating to correct sintering temperature .The microwave sintering behavior of SHS-prepared β-sialon powders was investigated with special emphasis in the evolution of densification and microstructure feature and mechanical properties. Microstructure observation by SEM

TEM and HREM showed fine and uniform grain feature of microwave sintered samples. The flexure strength of the β-sialon samples sintered at 1600℃ and 1650℃ with 5 min holding time were 470MPa and 630MPa while their toughnesses were 5.0MPa·m1/2 and 5.8MPa·m1/2.