Journal of Material Sciences & Engineering

Spark Plasma Sintering Techniques Improve the Properties of AlN-TiB₂ Ceramics with Nb₂O₅, Y₂O₃ and ZrO₂ as a Sintering Precursors

Abstract

José C González, Miguel A Rodríguez, Ignacio A Figueroa, María-Elena Villafuerte-Castrejón and Gerardo C Díaz

AlN-TiB₂ composites ceramics were prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). The effects of Nb₂O₅, Y₂O₃ and ZrO₂ additives on mechanical properties and densification were investigated. X-ray diffraction was used to identify the phases in the resulting composites. Good densification results were obtained using the different sintering additives. The mechanical properties such as hardness and fracture toughness were obtained using a Vickers indentation, the maximum values of hardness and fracture toughness were 13.9 ± 0.4 GPa for A4TN (90.48% AlN-4.76% TiB₂-4.76% Nb₂O₅. wt% of composite ceramic) and 5.8 ± 0.9 MPa.m1/2 for A23TZ (71.43%AlN-23.81%TiB₂-4.76%ZrO₂ wt% of composite ceramic).