PROCESSING OF NANO-Y-TZP AL2O3 COMPOSITES .2. COMPACTION AND SINTERING BEHAVIOR OF NANO-Y-TZP/AL2O3 COMPOSITE POWDERS/

The compaction and sintering behaviour of nano-sized and well-disperse d Y-TZP/Al2O3 composite powders have been investigated It has been fou nd that the composite powders contained no hard agglomerates, and afte r compaction, all soft agglomerates are fragmented. The green density of the compact was found to decrease with the increase of alumina cont ent. The composite powder compacts containing less than 20 mol% alumin a can be sintered at not higher than 1350 degrees C to 99% of their th eoretical densities. The densification behaviour of the composite powd ers show duplex shrinkage peak characteristics for the composites cont aining not less than 15 mol% alumina.