WET EROSIVE WEAR BEHAVIOR OF FINE-GRAIN ZIRCON CERAMIC

The wet erosive wear rates of a set of hot-pressed, dense, fine-graine d zircon materials of grain size in the range 2 to 6 mu m have been me asured. There is not correlation between wear rate and hardness or fra cture toughness: wear rate instead appears to be strongly linked to gr ain size and pore fraction. The wear rate-grain size relationship is e xplicable in terms of a model based on grain-boundary micro-fracture a nd crack linking, which allow grain detachment to occur. Wear rates fo r this set of zircon materials are slightly lower than those measured for a set of pure polycrystalline aluminas with a similar grain size r ange.