• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.174-180
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• 2000

Y-TZP/mullite composites were prepared by the infiltration of Y-TZP precursor into partially reaction-sintered mullite. The addition of Y-TZP(~7.2 wt%) increased the bend strength(207 MPa), fracture toughness(4.6MPa.m1/2) and Vickers microhardness(853kg/$\textrm{mm}^2$) of the uninfiltrated mullite sintered at 162$0^{\circ}C$ for 10h by more than 75, 70 and 105%, respectively. Residual alumina-rich glass was observed at a mullite/mullite junction, due to the mullitization reaction of silica melt with crystalline $\alpha$-Al2O3 during a final sintering. Although ZrO2 inclusions improved the final sintered density of mullite they did not effectively prevent its grain growth.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.80-86
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• 2002

$Al_{2}O_{3}/SiC$ nanocomposites were made by infiltrating partially sintered alumina bodies with polycarbosilane (PCS) solutions, which is a SiC polymer precursor, with pressureless sintering. The SiC content, densification, phases, strength, and microstructure were investigated with the processing parameters such as PCS solution concentration and heat treatment condition for PCS pyrolysis and sintering. The results were compared with those for pure alumina and nanocomposite samples made by the existing polymer precursor route (i.e. the PCS addition process). The SiC contents of up to 1.5 vol% were obtained by the PCS infiltration. PCS pyrolysis, followed by air heat treatment, was needed before sintering to avoid a cracking problem and to attain a densification as high as 98 % of theoretical. The nanocomposites exhibited significantly higher strength than pure alumina and those prepared by the PCS addition process despite larger grain size. Besides $\alpha-Al_{2}O_{3}/SiC$ and $\beta-SiC$ phases, mullite was present a little in the nanocomposites, which resulted from the reaction of $SiO_{2}$ in the pyrolysis product of PCS with the $Al_{2}O_{3}$ matrix during sintering. The nanocomposites had intagranular particles believed to be SiC, which is a typical feature of $Al_{2}O_{3}/SiC$ nanocomposites.