Mechanical behavior of mullite-zirconia composites

Abstract

In this work, mechanical properties of mullite–zirconia composites synthesised through reaction sintering of Algerian kaolin, α-Al2O3, and ZrO2 were characterized. Phases present and their transformations were characterized using x-ray diffraction. Hardness H and fracture toughness KIC were measured by Vickers indentation using a Zwick microhardness tester. The flexural strength was measured through three point bending test using an Instron Universal Testing Machine. It was found that the increase of ZrO2 content (from 0 to 32wt.%) decreased the microhardness of the composites from 14 to 10.8 GPa. However, the increase of ZrO2 content (from 0 to 24wt.%) increased the flexural strength of the composites from 142 to 390 MPa then decreased it with further increase of ZrO2 content. Also, the fracture toughness increased from 1.8 to 2.9 MPa.m1/2 with the increase of ZrO2 content from 0 to 32 wt.%; and the rate of the increase decreased at higher fractions of ZrO2 content. The average linear coefficient of thermal expansion (within the range 50 to 1450°C) for samples containing 0 and 16 wt.% ZrO2 sintered at 1600°C for 2 hours was 4.7 x10-6 K-1 and 5.2 x 10-6 K-1 respectively.