Ti/Al 2O 3 composite with improved mechanical properties was synthesized by th e spark plasma sintering. The effect of Nb on the microstructure of the composit e was analyzed by TEM, SEM and so on. The experimental results indicate that the bending strength, fracture toughness, micro-hardness and relative density of t he composite are 897.29MPa, 17.38MPa·m 1/2, 17.13GPa and 99.24% respec tively when adding 1.5vol%Nb. The bending strength is improved by reason of form ing dislocation ring and transfering fracture mode from intergranular to mixture fracture of intergranular and transgranular. The crack propagating is mainly th e deflection bridging. It indicates a reduction of crack driving force and an in crease in crack growth resistance,which results in toughness enhanced.
SiCp/Al composites containing high volume fraction of SiC particles were fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS), and their thermophysical properties, such as thermal conductivity (TC) and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), were characterized. The electric field in the vacuum column was calculated and the generation condition of the spark was analyzed. Spark can be generated by a low current if the cavity in the green body is large enough. A high relative density of the composites was successfully achieved through the optimization of sintering parameters. The measured TCs of the SiCp/Al composites fabricated by SPS are higher than 195W/m·K.
