Toughening of Ti3SiC2 with 3Y-TZP addition by spark plasma sintering

3 mol% Yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia (3Y-TZP)/Ti3SiC2 composites with different 3Y-TZP content were fabricated by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) at 1300 degrees C. The effect of 3Y-TZP content on room-temperature mechanical properties and microstructures of the composites was investigated. The Vickers hardness of the composites increased with the increasing of the 3Y-TZP content. The bending strength and fracture toughness of the composites exhibit the decrease and increase respectively, as the 3Y-TZP content was less than 30 vol.%, whereas they showed the increase and decrease, respectively, as the 3Y-TZP content was higher than 30 vol.%. The maximum fracture toughness of 11.94 MPa m(1/2) was achieved for the composite with 30 vol.% 3Y-TZP. The increased fracture toughness involved multiple-toughening behaviors, in which the phase transformation toughening, the crack deflection, and delamination may all have mainly contributed to the improvement of fracture toughness. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.