Abstract
ZrO_2/SiC composite was hot-pressed in order to investigate the crack-healing behavior. A semi-circular surface crack of 100μn surface length was made on each specimen. The specimens were heat-treated in air or N_2 gas at 800℃. After heat-treatment, the bending strengths were measured by three-point bending test at room temperature. The main conclusions are as follows. (1)Crack-healing occurred by the heat-treatment in air. However, the crack-healing didn't occur by the heat-treatment in N2 gas. (2)A phase Iransformation occuffed if the specimens were heat-treated in air. (3)The fracture resistance Kc increased by the heat-treatment in air because of the phase transformation.
