MICROSTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN AL2O3-PLATELET-REINFORCED CE-ZRO2 AL2O3COMPOSITES/

Composites containing Ce-ZrO2, Al2O3, and aligned Al2O3 platelets were produced by centrifugal consolidation and pressureless sintering, fol lowed by heat treatments at 1600 degrees C for varied duration. Consti tuents in the consolidated microstructures were either uniformly distr ibuted throughout or segregated into gradient layers, depending critic ally on platelet content, Quantitative image analysis vas used to exam ine microstructure development with heat treatment, Changes in the vol ume fraction, dimensional anisotropy, and gradient of pores and platel ets, as well as changes in the phase gradient, were quantified. Micros tructure development was strongly dependent on the initial microstruct ure design attained from suspension processing.