Zirconia-mullite ceramics made from composite particles coated with amorphous phase: Part II. Effects of boria additions to the amorphous phase

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Mullite and zirconia-mullite ceramics have been prepared by coating alumina/zirconia particles with an amorphous silica layer. The effect of composition change of the amorphous silica layer by adding B2O3 was investigated. For the zirconia-free compositions, the addition of B2O3 remarkably accelerates the kinetics of the crystallization of the amorphous coating layer, the viscous sintering, and the mullitization. For the zirconia-containing ceramics, the addition of B2O3 enhanced the viscous sintering kinetics and delayed the decomposition of the transient zircon phase and the subsequent t- to m ZrO2 transition, thus resulting in a higher ratio of t- to m-ZrO2. The B2O3-containing zirconia-mullite composites exhibit the same level of fracture toughness (Kic) as the B2O3-free zirconia-mullite composites.