Effect of sintering temperature on the properties of porous Al₂O₃-10 wt% RHA/10 wt% Al composite

ABSTRACT

The engineering properties of porous alumina ceramic composites such as sintering linear shrinkage, density, porosity, hardness, tensile strength and microstructure analysis were studied. Different sintering temperature of 1250°C, 1350°C, 1450°C, 1550°C was used. The alumina, rice husk ash, aluminium and sucrose solution binder were mixed and pressed through powder compaction technique. The porous structure and elemental analysis of the mixed powder have been characterised using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM/EDX). For the phase identification, x-ray diffractiona nalysis has been performed. Results depicted that there is no contamination of the mixed powders. The pores structure reduced as the sintering temperature increased to 1550°C. The mechanical analysis revealed that the properties of the porous alumina ceramic composites sintered at 1550°C showed the best performances. Sintering linear shrinkage increased with increasing sintering temperature, resulting in higher volumetric changes. Thus, this effect increases densification and reduces total porosity while improving the tensile strength of the porous alumina ceramic composites.

KEYWORDS:

• Ceramic matrix composite
• alumina
• powder metallurgy
• sintering process
• microstructure
• mechanical properties

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to acknowledge support given by the Research Management Center, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM/700-2/1/GPBI/2017/9553600).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Universiti Putra Malaysia [UPM/700-2/1/GPBI/2017/9553600].