Preparation and characterization of a glass matrix composite containing aluminium titanate particles with improved thermal shock resistance

Improving the thermal shock resistance of sintered glasses is an important task to broaden their technical and structural applications. In this study, the incorporation of second phase particles with low Young's modulus (E) i nto glass matrices to form composite materials is shown to be a convenient approach to increase their thermal shock resistance. Novel aluminosilicate glass matrix composites containing aluminium titanate (Al2TiO5) particles w ere fabricated by powder technology and pressureless sintering. By incorpor ating up to 30 vol.% of aluminium titanate particles a nearly fourfold incr ease of the thermal shock resistance was achieved. This was determined by m easuring the critical temperature difference necessary to cause superficial cracks in cylindrical samples subjected to water-quench tests. The experim ental results are shown to confirm qualitatively the theoretical prediction of the model of Hasselman et al. for the thermal shock resistance of low-E /high-E composites.