Abstract
Spark plasma sintering (SPS) of an Al2O3-ZrSiO4 mixture of fine powders in the presence of TiO2 as an additive, which supplies a transient liquid during firing, has been studied. The effect of the sintering temperature, as well as the presence of the additive on the phase's evolution, microstructure and mechanical properties of the final sintered composite are analyzed in this work. Fast firing in the SPS process results in well densified bodies (> 99.5% relative density) at low temperatures (1380°C). However, it is necessary to increase the temperature to 1460°C in order to obtain bodies with full mullitization reaction. The KIC of the composite is improved to 4.91 MPa·m 1/2 , but a low tetragonal ZrO2 content in the fired body indicates that reinforcement by ZrO2 stress induced transformation is not the toughening mechanism. Therefore, another mechanism is responsible for toughening in this kind of composites.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 95-102 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Ceramic Engineering and Science Proceedings |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| State | Published - 2000 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | 24th Annual Conference on Composites, Advanced Ceramics, Materials,and Structures:B - Cocoa Beach, FL, USA Duration: 23 Jan 2000 → 28 Jan 2000 |