• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.1943-1948
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• 2010

Two kind of $\beta$-SiC powders of different particle sizes (${\sim}1.7\;{\mu}m$ and ${\sim}30\;nm$), containing 7 wt% $Y_2O_3$, 2 wt% $Al_2O_3$ and 1 wt% MgO as sintering additives, were prepared by hot pressing at $1800^{\circ}C$ for 1 h under applied pressures, and then were hot-forged at $1950^{\circ}C$ for 6 h under 40 MPa in argon. All the hot-pressed specimens consisted of equiaxed grains and were developed grain growth after hot-forging. The smaller starting powder was developed the finer microstructure. The microstructures on the surfaces parallel and perpendicular to the pressing direction of the hot-forged SiC were similar to each other, and no texture development was observed because of the lack of massive $\beta$ to $\sigma$ phase transformation of SiC. The fracture toughness (${\sim}3.9\;MPa{\cdot}m^{1/2}$), hardness (~ 25.2 GPa) and flexural strength (480 MPa) of hot-forged SiC using larger starting powder were higher than those of the other.