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Influence of yttria and zirconia additions on spark plasma sintering of alumina composites

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Abstract

The mechanisms of densification and creep were examined during spark plasma sintering (SPS) of alumina doped with a low and high level of zirconia or yttria, over a temperature range of 1173–1573 K and stresses between 25 and 100 MPa. Large additions of yttria led clearly to in situ reactions during SPS and the formation of a yttrium-aluminum garnet phase. Dopants generally lead to a reduction in the densification rate, with substantial reductions noted in samples with ∼5.5 vol% second phase. In contrast to a stress exponent of n ∼ 1 for pure alumina, the doped aluminas displayed n ∼ 2 corresponding to an interface-controlled diffusion process. The higher activation energies in the composites are consistent with previous data on creep and changes in the interfacial energies. The results reveal a compensation effect, such that an increase in the activation energy is accompanied by a corresponding increase in the pre-exponential term for diffusion.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Department of Science and Technology. We gratefully acknowledge the support and useful discussions with Dr. G. Sundararajan. One of us (AHC) is also grateful to Professor Laszlo Toth for support during a sabbatical leave at the University of Lorraine, Metz.

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  1. Dibyendu Chakravarty

    Present address: Dept. of Materials Science and Nano Engineering, Rice University, Houston, 77005, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Nanomaterials, International Advanced Research Center for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Balapur P.O., Hyderabad, Telangana, 500005, India

    Dibyendu Chakravarty

  2. Department of Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560012, India

    Dibyendu Chakravarty & Atul H. Chokshi

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Chakravarty, D., Chokshi, A.H. Influence of yttria and zirconia additions on spark plasma sintering of alumina composites. Journal of Materials Research 30, 1148–1156 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2015.72

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