Densification of mullite-SiC nanocomposite sol-gel precursors by pressureless sintering

Mullite-SiC nanocomposite has been synthesised based on a nanoprecursor rou te and sintered to high density through pressureless sintering technique. T he approach has been first to evolve a method to obtain high density, fine- grained mullite matrix phase through a sol-gel seeded route. Nanosize SiC p articles (similar to 200 nm) were dispersed in a seeded mullite precursor s ol to obtain mullite-coated SiC particles, which were further compacted and sintered to hybrid composites, resulting in distribution of SiC particles at the inter- and intra-mullite grain positions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.