Abstract
Cermet's of 60 vol% ZrC and 40 vol% Mo with different starting ZrC particle sizes were spark plasma sintered to full density at 1950 °C. Elastic moduli, Vickers hardness and fracture toughness were measured at room temperature and flexural strength was measured up to 1600 °C. Young's modulus was 365 ± 5 GPa, shear modulus was 149 ± 2 GPa, Poisson's ratio was 0.22 ± 0.01, and no significant difference was observed for the moduli with respect to the starting ZrC particle size. Room temperature flexural strength was affected by the ZrC particle size, measured as ∼524 and ∼598 MPa for the large and small ZrC cermets, respectively. The cermet with the larger ZrC particle size retained this strength value up to 1400 °C, while the cermet with the smaller ZrC demonstrated a trend of increasing strength with increasing temperature above 1000 °C, reaching a maximum of 776 ± 9 MPa at 1400 °C, before falling off at higher temperatures. Vickers hardness ranged from 9.2–8.5 GPa and 11.1–9.8 GPa for the cermets containing the larger and smaller ZrC particles respectively, under 1.96, 4.91, and 9.81 N loads. Fracture toughness was measured to be 10.0 ± 0.2 MPa⋅ (Formula presented) for the larger ZrC and 10.2 ± 0.4 MPa⋅ (Formula presented) for the smaller ZrC composite.
Recommended Citation
N. Blatt et al., "ZrC Particle Size Effect on the Mechanical Properties of Spark Plasma Sintered 60–40 Vol% ZrC–Mo Cermets," Ceramics International, Elsevier, Jan 2025.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2025.09.336
Department(s)
Materials Science and Engineering
Publication Status
Full Text Access
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0272-8842
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2025 Elsevier, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2025
