Abstract
Improvement of thermal shock resistance of wollastonite sintered body has been performed by adding spodumene which has a low thermal expanson coefficient.
In this study, influence of average particle size of mixed powder on sintering behaviour, mechanial properties (3-point bending strength, Vickers hardness), thermal properties (thermal expansion coefficient, thermal shock resistance) and microstructure of wollastonite/spodumene composites was investigated.
The main results obtained are as follows;
1) Densification temperature decreased with decreasing average particle size.
2) Bending strength of composites increased with decreasing average particle size at lower spodumene contents. However, no particle size dependency was observed at higher spodumene contents because of void formation.
3) Vickers hardness of composites increased with decreacing average particle size.
4) Thermal expansion coefficient significantly decreased with increasing average particle size at higher spodumene contents.
