In the present study, the use of a 3 wt% Fe 2 O 3 catalyst improved the crystallisation of polysilazane PSN2. Crystallisation peaks of higher intensity were observed for Si 3 N 4 and SiC at 1250 • C by using a 3 wt% Fe 2 O 3 catalyst than at 1500 • C without Fe 2 O 3 . Besides, the effects of temperature on the morphology of the samples were determined through scanning electron microscopy. Porous structures were observed at 1250 • C and these structures were transformed to flaky and near-spherical nanoparticles as the temperatures were increased to 1350 and 1450 • C, respectively. Finally, the mechanism of Fe origination from Fe 2 O 3 reduction, the production of a supersaturated liquid alloy, and the release and diffusion of N 2 were proposed for Si 3 N 4 formation.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.