Microstructure and mechanical properties of spark plasma sintered ZrO2-Al2O3-TiC0.5N0.5 nanocomposites

Future materials for wear resistant components require a combination of excellent mechanical properties such as hardness and toughness, short processing times and good electrical conductivity to facilitate shaping by electro discharge machining (EDM). In this work, the hardness and fracture toughness of t-ZrO₂ based electro conductive composites was optimised, while short processing times below 20 minutes using spark plasma sintering were sufficient to obtain near fully dense materials. The influence of powder processing technique using TiC₀.₅N₀.₅ as the starting powder and yttria as a stabiliser on the mechanical properties of ZrO₂-TiC₀.₅N₀.₅-Al₂O₃ based composites was investigated. Fully dense Y-TZP based composites possessed an excellent toughness of 9.2 MPa.m½ and an increased Vickers hardness of 1397 kg/mm².status: publishe