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U.S. Department of Energy
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Dispersed-metal-toughened alumina

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5896738

Hot-pressed alumina with a fine dispersion of Cr metal particles showed good fracture toughness (K/sub Ic/ less than or equal to 8 MPa.m/sup 1/2/) and thermal shock resistance. However, the fracture strengths of these materials were relatively low (190 to 240 MPa vs 350 to 580 MPa for pure alumina). The good fracture toughness and thermal shock resistance were found to be related to the relatively large-grain duplex microstructure of the hot-pressed materials. The fracture toughness of alumina with dispersions of Ni and Pt was found to be inferior to that of the Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/-Cr materials. Hot-pressed solid solutions of Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/-Cr/sub 2/O/sub 3/ also showed good fracture toughness (K/sub Ic/ = 7.3 to 7.7 MPa.m/sup 1/2/), which was again due to the development of a relatively large-grain duplex microstructure. Implications of these results for dispersion-metal hardening of zirconia are discussed.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
5896738
Report Number(s):
DOE/NASA-2801-1; NASA-CR-174687; ORNL/TM-9518; ON: DE85008145
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English