Effect of Al₂O₃ nanofibers on compaction, phase composition, and mechanical properties of ZrO₂-based composites obtained by vacuum pressureless sintering

This work studies the effect of the relative content of Al₂O₃ nanofibers on the compaction, phase composition, and physicomechanical properties of composites based on ZrO₂ obtained by free vacuum sintering. It was found that in the process of manufacturing composites, nanofibers are sintered into Al₂O₃ grains of complex, elongated shape, which form a solid, frame-reinforcing structure. The relative density of composites with 5 wt. % and 10 wt. % of nanofibers, decreases up to 95%. It is shown that in all sintered samples the tetragonal modification of ZrO₂ acts as the main phase, and the different content of nanofibers affects the amount of cubic and monoclinic modifications of ZrO₂. It was found that addition of 5 wt. % and 10 wt. % of Al₂O₃ nanofibers increases the microhardness of the composite by 11% and crack resistance by 46%.

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