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Sintering of alumina from 1500°C to 1650°C and tribo‐mechanical properties at room temperature had been investigated using nano CuO as a sintering aid. Bulk density gradually increases with sintering temperature from 1500°C to 1600°C and is optimized at 1600°C, beyond this, bulk density does not significantly increase at 1650°C. The addition of 2 wt% CuO showed the best result on densification. Densification of about 97.74% was attained at 1600°C with the incorporation of 2 wt% CuO. Nano CuO at grain boundaries forms CuAl2O4 liquid which modifies the morphology of the grain and improves mechanical properties. The formation of self‐lubricating tribo‐film on the wear track results in a low coefficient of friction <0.2 and reduces specific wear rate. 4 wt% CuO addition increases contact tensile stress (σmax) by 51.2% and high Hertzian contact pressure (Pmax≈1.51 GPa) causes plastic deformation of wear track. The re‐solidified strengthening bond phase on the wear track simultaneously increases in friction coefficient and wear resistance with CuO addition. The optimizing effect of CuO addition shows that 2 wt% significantly decreases wear rate, and increases hardness and fracture toughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation reports the adsorption effect of Cobalt and Zinc ions on the antibacterial properties of Silicon Carbide (SiC) added fired Porcelain based ceramics against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Incorporation of SiC in porcelain composition shows decrease in bulk density and increase in apparent porosity gradually upto 15 weight percent addition. The bulk density and apparent porosity of 15 wt% SiC added porcelain are 2.01 g/cm3 and 24.03%, respectively. Phase and microstructural charecterization reveals that fine grained interlocked mullite network with little unconverted quartz and carborandum are uniformly distributed in the microstructure. Co+2 and Zn+2 adsorption on exposed surface is calculated to be ~0.42 mg/cm2 and Inductively coupled mass plasma spectroscopy (ICP‐MS) shows that 1641.41 ppm of Co+2 and 1936.37 ppm of Zn+2 are leached in water from adsorbed surface. This is the first report where, transition metal specific antibacterial efficacy of SiC added porcelain‐based ceramics are investigated. This report reveals that both Co+2 and Zn+2 adsorption results in antibacterial efficacy against E coli and S aureus and Co+2 adsorption is superior to (zone of inhibition is ~1.3 cm more depending on bacteria and sample specifications) Zn+2 adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]