Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol.97, No.8, 2401-2404, 2014
Improved Green Strength and Green Machinability of ZrB2-SiC Through Gelcasting Based on a Double Gel Network
ZrB2-SiC green ceramics were fabricated by aqueous gelcasting based on single AM-MBAM, single Na-alginate, and double gel network system. ZrB2-SiC ceramics obtained by aqueous gelcasting based on AM-MBAM and Na-alginate double gel network had a dramatically highest green strength of 98.6 +/- 5.1 MPa, which was 103% and 61% higher than that of ZrB2-SiC ceramics based on single AM-MBAM system and Na-alginate system, respectively. A "scratch test" was conducted to evaluate the green machinability of as-prepared ZrB2-SiC ceramics. The ZrB2-SiC ceramics based on this double gel network was found to have the best green machinability.