1. Pressureless sintering of ZrC-based ceramics by enhancing powder sinterability
- Author
-
Zhao, Liyou, Jia, Dechang, Duan, Xiaoming, Yang, Zhihua, and Zhou, Yu
- Subjects
- *
SINTERING , *CERAMIC materials , *ZIRCONIUM carbide , *MICROSTRUCTURE , *GRAPHITE , *MOLECULAR structure , *CRYSTAL growth , *BALL mills , *STRENGTH of materials - Abstract
Abstract: The sinterability of ZrC was enhanced by high-energy ball milling as well as introduction of graphite and SiC as sintering additives. Densification process and microstructure development were investigated for ZrC-based ceramics densified by pressureless sintering. As-received ZrC powder showed poor sinterability. After high-energy ball milling, ZrC powder can be sintered to 98.4% theoretical density at 2100°C. The obtained ceramic had fine microstructure and fewer entrapped pores. Introduction of 2wt.% graphite combined with high-energy ball milling lowered the densification temperature of ZrC. The relative density of obtained ceramic reached up to 95% at 1900°C. Introduced SiC inhibited ZrC grain growth during sintering and consequently avoided the entrapped pores within the grains. The relative density of ZrC–SiC reached up to 96.7% at 2100°C. ZrC–SiC composite formed an interesting intragranular structure and had high fracture strength at room temperature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF