Symposium on Materials Processing and Interfaces from 141st TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibition, California, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, 11 - 15 Mart 2012, ss.569-575
Zirconium carbide (ZrC) is an important structural ceramic due to its high melting temperature, excellent chemical resistance, high electrical conductivity and good mechanical properties. This combination of properties makes it potentially useful in application of cutting tools, high temperature crucibles and thermal protection components. However, the nature of brittleness and lack of damage tolerance is one of the most crucial problems in their applications. In this study, ZrC-SiC composites with different compositions were prepared by using spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. Samples containing 10 and 20 vol% SiC were sintered at 1850 degrees C for 300 s under a pressure of 40 MPa. Densities of the composites were determined by the Archimedes' method. Fully dense ZrC-SiC composites with a relative density of 99% were obtained. Mechanical properties and microstructural behavior of the composites were also investigated.