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Sr‐containing ceramic products produced from geopolymer, (Na, Sr)‐GP, have been reported as excellent candidate materials for the immobilization of radionuclide 90Sr, despite sintering temperature at 1200°C. In this work, the product possessing the best immobilization performance (leaching rate of 1.29% for Sr2+) can be produced at 1000°C in the method of liquid‐phase sintering via the addition of fluxing agent B2O3 at 2.0 wt% in the geopolymer precursor. The mechanical properties of the geopolymer precursor (Na, Sr)‐GP were also enhanced via the promotion role of B2O3 to geopolymerization. It was revealed that the overall anti‐leaching ability of the Sr‐containing ceramic product not only depends on the microstructure of the loading substrate but also can be affected by the chemical state of radioactive strontium retention in the loading matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A type of boron nitride–magnesium aluminum silicate (BN‐MAS) composite ceramics was fabricated by hot‐press sintering at different sintering temperatures. The relationship between the sintering temperature and microstructure was investigated by analyzing the interaction between hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) and the MAS phase. The main MAS phase in the composite ceramics is the α‐cordierite phase at a sintering temperature of 1300°C. At temperatures above 1400°C, the inhibitory effect of h‐BN on the crystallization of the MAS system is significant, and MAS mainly exists in the form of an amorphous phase. The composite sintered at 1700°C exhibited the highest bending strength of 218MPa. h‐BN and MAS were co‐enhanced. MAS can be used as an effective liquid‐phase sintering aid to assist in the sintering of h‐BN, whereas h‐BN can absorb the fracture energy of the composite ceramics through the pull‐out and bridging effect of the particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

6 H- SiC powder mixed with Si3N4, Al2O3, Y2O3, and AlN was sintered in a spark plasma sintering ( SPS) equipment. The 6 H→3 C SiC transformation was concerned. Research results indicated the polytype transformation completed in less than 30 s by imposing a 14 458 W (6.2 V, 2332 A) transitory DC current at 1700°C upon cooling down from 2000°C. The fast transformation kinetic and the significant 3 C- SiC grain growth accompanying the phase transformation were suspected to be correlated with the pulsed SPS direct current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon nitride/silicon oxynitride (Si3N4/Si2N2O) ceramic foams with tailored microstructures were prepared by a gelcasting process using fly ash cenosphere (FAC) as a pore-forming agent. The slurry has a suitable viscosity so that the floating velocity of FAC in the slurry is slow enough to avoid delamination between the FAC and the matrix during consolidation. Experimental observation showed that a uniform distribution of FAC was achieved in the matrix. Sintering was carried out at 1500°, 1600°, and 1700°C, respectively, for 1 h under a nitrogen atmosphere. X-ray diffractometry analysis indicated that Si2N2O was formed via the reaction between FAC and Si3N4. Microstructural analysis revealed that spherical-shaped pores obtained from FAC were uniformly dispersed in the composite. Si3N4/Si2N2O composite ceramic foams with apparent porosities of 62.0%–67.4% and a bending strength of 21–39 MPa were obtained eventually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat dissipation material with programmable anisotropic property is very challenging, yet can realize the controllable thermal diffusion for heating device. In this work, anisotropic Si3N4 ceramics with oriented grains are prepared to adjust and improve the mechanical and thermal properties under the applied stress field by rolling film forming technology. Through the design of the sintering aids in the process of liquid‐phase sintering, the orientation degree of the Si3N4 grains is programmable as well as the mechanical property and the thermal property of the Si3N4 ceramics. As a consequence, the obtained Si3N4 ceramics show significant anisotropy in mechanical properties and thermal conductivity. The typical fracture toughness and thermal conductivity along the grain orientation direction are 10.6 MPa⋅m1/2 and 45.45 W/(m⋅K) while they are 4.5 MPa⋅m1/2 and 66.42 W/(m⋅K) in the direction perpendicular to the oriented grain, respectively. This grain orientation method paves the way for the thermal performance design and the production of programmable heat dissipation material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The TaC0.7 composition was spark plasma sintered (SPS) at 1600°-1900°C using TaC and Ta as the starting powders. Densification process, phase evolution, microstructure development, and the mechanical properties of the composites were investigated. The results indicated that the TaC0.7 composition could be SPS to >95% of theoretical density in 5 min at 1600°C or above. The phase formation was associated with carbon diffusion from the starting particles TaC to Ta to form Ta2C and Ta6C5 as intermediate phases, and subsequently the equilibrium phases of TaC y and ζ-Ta4C3− x. The presence of lamellar ζ-Ta4C3− x regions enhanced the flexure strength (up to 972 MPa) and fracture toughness (up to 13.8 MPa·m1/2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fabrication of dense amorphous Si-B-C-N monoliths is a processing challenge given that it is hard to avoid crystallization at the sintering temperatures needed to attain full density up to 1900°C for conventional hot pressing and SPS methods. We report here successful densification of amorphous Si2BC3N monoliths achieved by heating at 1100°C and 5 GPa. The relationships between microstructure, types of chemical bonding, and mechanical properties were investigated. The strong amorphous 3-D networks of Si-C, C-B, C-N (sp³), N-B (sp³), and C-B-N bonds provide high densities at high applied pressure and thus amorphous Si2BC3N monoliths show high hardness of 29.4 GPa and elastic modulus of 291 GPa. The amorphous structure is lost with crystallization of β-SiC and BN(C) reducing contributions from Si-C, C-N (sp³), and C-B-N bond networks thereby decreasing mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hexagonal BN particles (BNp) reinforced fused SiO2 matrix composite (BNp/SiO2) was regarded as a very important candidate material for potential applications on wave transparent thermal protection parts. In this study, pressurelessly sintered 15 vol% BNp/SiO2 composites were prepared by cold isostatic pressing (CIP) and gel-casting routes, respectively, using two kinds of fused silica powders with different particle sizes (5.82 and 3.24 μm in d50, respectively) as starting SiO2. It was demonstrated that the microstructure and mechanical properties of the composites were well dependent on the preforming techniques of green compacts. Gel-casting preforming route has an overwhelming superiority over CIP route on the thermal stability of fused SiO2 matrix against α-cristobalite crystallization, sinterability, and thus the mechanical properties. Using the finer fused silica (3.24 μm in d50) as the starting SiO2, the 15 vol% BNp/SiO2 composite sintered at 1375°C get a density of 2.05 g/cm3, the silica matrix primarily keep amorphous phase with uniformly dispersed nanosized α-cristobalite crystallites (<5 nm in diameter). The bending strength, fracture toughness and Young's modulus all reach the highest values, 101.5 ± 4.3 MPa, 1.57 ± 0.04 MPa·m1/2 and 61.3 ± 2.4 GPa, respectively. Microstructure characteristics, chemical bond information and mechanical properties of the as-prepared composites are correlated with their preforming routes, starting fused SiO2 particle size, sintering temperature, etc. based on X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, high resolution transmission electron microscope, and FT-IR analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ZrB2- BN composite without ZrC impurity was prepared successfully using reactive hot pressing via carbothermal reduction of ZrO2 with B4 C, C, and BN powders. The influences of additives and sintering temperature on the phase and microstructure of composites were investigated. The formation reaction of ZrC was inhibited by decreasing the evaporation of intermediate product B2 O3 due to forming a SiO2- B2 O3 eutectic system with the addition of SiO2 or SiO2 - CaF2. In comparison, SiO2- CaF2 exhibited better inhibition capacity of ZrC. ZrB2- BN composite without impure ZrC phase was achieved. In addition, the content of ZrO2 decreased with increasing sintering temperature, and finally disappeared when sintered at 1800°C. Moreover, the relative density of the ZrB2- BN composite reached 96.9%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]