Abstract
Sinterability, Vickers hardness and fracture toughness of TiB2-ZrO2 composites, with ranging from 10 to 60 wt% of 3 mol% Y2O3⋅ZrO2, produced by pressureless sintering at 1600°C to 1900°C were investigated. In the cases of the content of more than 40 wt%ZrO2 and the sintering temperature of more than 1700°C, the composites having relative density of more than 95% were obtained. The Vickers hardness of TiB250 wt%-ZrO250 wt% composite was about 15 GPa. The fracture toughness of TiB260 wt%-ZrO240 wt% composite was about 8.5 MPa√m.
