Spark Plasma Sintering of Nano Silicon Carbide Reinforced Alumina Ceramic Composites

Abstract

Although Al2O3 has been commercially preferred material, it cannot be used in applications subject to variable and sudden loads due to its low fracture toughness. In this study, as the primary purpose, to improve the fracture toughness of the Al2O3/nano-SiC particles was used as reinforcement phase. Ultrasonic dispersion was used to ensure good dispersion of the nano reinforcement phase in the matrix. Production was carried out by spark plasma sintering method at temperatures of 1325 °C for 5 min under 40 MPa pressure and vacuum atmosphere. After production process, sintering behavior, density, microstructure, phase structure, hardness and fracture toughness of the Al2O3/nano-SiC composites were analyzed. The highest hardness and fracture toughness of 22.83 GPa and 6.09 MPa·m1/2 was achieved, respectively.

Keywords

• Spark Plasma Sintering
• Al2O3
• Nano-SiC
• Ceramic Composite
• Fracture Toughness

References

1. Pravarthana, D., Chateigner, D., Lutterotti, L., Lacotte, M., Marinel, S., Dubos, P.A., et al., (2013). Growth and texture of spark plasma sintered Al2O3 ceramics: A combined analysis of X-rays and electron back scatter diffraction. Journal of Applied Physics. 113(15): 153510. doi: 10.1063/1.4802439.
2. Saheb, N., Hayat, U., Hassan, S.F., (2019). Recent advances and future prospects in spark plasma sintered alumina hybrid nanocomposites. Nanomaterials. 9(11): 1–43. doi: 10.3390/nano9111607.
3. Liu, J., Li, Z., Yan, H., Jiang, K., (2014). Spark plasma sintering of alumina composites with graphene platelets and silicon carbide nanoparticles. Advanced Engineering Materials. 16(9): 1111–8. doi: 10.1002/adem.201300536.
4. Liu, J., Yan, H., Jiang, K., (2013). Mechanical properties of graphene platelet-reinforced alumina ceramic composites. Ceramics International. 39(6): 6215–21. doi: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2013.01.041.
5. Ahmad, K., Pan, W., (2015). Microstructure-toughening relation in alumina based multiwall carbon nanotube ceramic composites. Journal of the European Ceramic Society. 35(2): 663–71. doi: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2014.08.044.
6. Akin, I., (2015). Investigation of the microstructure, mechanical properties and cell viability of zirconia-toughened alumina composites reinforced with carbon nanotubes. Journal of the Ceramic Society of Japan. 123(1437): 405–13. doi: 10.2109/jcersj2.123.405.
7. Chakravarty, D., Bysakh, S., Muraleedharan, K., Rao, T.N., Sundaresan, R., (2008). Spark plasma sintering of magnesia-doped alumina with high hardness and fracture toughness. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. 91(1): 203–8. doi: 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2007.02094.x.
8. Ormanci, O., Akin, I., Sahin, F., Yucel, O., Simon, V., Cavalu, S., et al., (2014). Spark plasma sintered Al2O3-YSZ-TiO2 composites: Processing, characterization and in vivo evaluation. Materials Science and Engineering C. 40: 16–23. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2014.03.041.

9. Rattanachan, S., Miyashita, Y., Mutoh, Y., (2003). Microstructure and fracture toughness of a spark plasma sintered Al2O3-based composite with BaTiO3 particulates. Journal of the European Ceramic Society. 23(8): 1269–76. doi: 10.1016/S0955-2219(02)00294-7.
10. Razavi, M., Farajipour, A.R., Zakeri, M., Rahimipour, M.R., Firouzbakht, A.R., (2017). Production of Al2O3-SiC nano-composites by spark plasma sintering. Boletin de La Sociedad Espanola de Ceramica y Vidrio. 56(4): 186–94. doi: 10.1016/j.bsecv.2017.01.002.
11. Álvarez, I., Torrecillas, R., Solis, W., Peretyagin, P., Fernández, A., (2016). Microstructural design of Al2O3–SiC nanocomposites by Spark Plasma Sintering. Ceramics International. 42(15): 17248–53. doi: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.08.019.
12. Alweendo, S.T., Johnson, O.T., Shongwe, B.M., Kavishe, F.P., Borode, J.O., (2020). Microstructural and mechanical properties of alumina (Al2O3) matrix composites reinforced with SiC from rice husk by spark plasma sintering. Materials Research. 23(1): 1–9. doi: 10.1590/1980-5373-MR-2019-0363.
13. Anstis, G.R., Chantikul, P., Lawn, B.R., Marshall, D.B., (1981). A Critical Evaluation of Indentation Techniques for Measuring Fracture Toughness: I, Direct Crack Measurements. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. 64(9): 533–8. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1151-2916.1981.tb10320.x.
14. Shi, X.L., Xu, F.M., Zhang, Z.J., Dong, Y.L., Tan, Y., Wang, L., et al., (2010). Mechanical properties of hot-pressed Al2O3/SiC composites. Materials Science and Engineering A. 527(18–19): 4646–9. doi: 10.1016/j.msea.2010.03.035.
15. Torosyan, K.S., Sedegov, A.S., Kuskov, K. V., Abedi, M., Arkhipov, D.I., Kiryukhantsev-Korneev, P. V., et al., (2020). Reactive, nonreactive, and flash spark plasma sintering of Al2O3/SiC composites—A comparative study. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. 103(1): 520–30. doi: 10.1111/jace.16734.
16. Whitney, D.L., Broz, M., Cook, R.F., (2007). Hardness, toughness, and modulus of some common metamorphic minerals. American Mineralogist. 92(2–3): 281–8. doi: 10.2138/am.2007.2212.