Preparation and Performance of Al₂O₃/Ti(C,N)-Added ZrO₂ Whisker and NanoCoated CaF₂@Al(OH)₃ Powder

• Main Authors: Qi Li, Guangchun Xiao, Zhaoqiang Chen, Runxin Guo, Mingdong Yi, Jingjie Zhang, Chonghai Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-06-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: ZrO₂ whisker; nano coated powder; toughing and reinforcing; intragranular structure; mechanism analysis
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/13/4435

The Al₂O₃/Ti(C,N) ceramic material added micron ZrO₂ whisker and nano coated CaF₂@Al(OH)₃ powder was fabricated. The micron ZrO₂ whisker was for the toughening and reinforcing phase and the nano coated CaF₂@Al(OH)₃ powder was the lubricant. For obtaining a ceramic material with optimal comprehensive mechanical properties and friction properties, the influences of different compositions of the ZrO₂ whisker and nano coated CaF₂@Al(OH)₃ powder on the microstructure and mechanical properties were analyzed, respectively. The result demonstrated that as the addition of the ZrO₂ whisker was 6 vol% and the addition of the nano coated CaF₂@Al(OH)₃ powder was 10 vol%, the optimal self-lubricating ceramic material had optimal mechanical properties. The hardness of the ceramic material was 16.72 GPa, the flexural strength was 520 MPa and the fracture toughness reached 7.16 MPa·m^1/2. The formation of the intragranular structure, whisker toughening and the phase transition of ZrO₂ were the main mechanisms.