Microstructure and properties of pressuresless sintered alumina based metal nanocomposites

Abstract

Alumina-based metal (alumina/metal) nanocomposites fabricated by hotpressing techniques are found to exhibit the improved mechanical and functional properties. However, there are a few reports to make alumina/metal nanocomposites by pressureless sintering. The purpose of this work, therefore, is to fabricate alumina/metal nanocomposites with homogeneous microstruc ture and enhanced mechanical properties by pressureless sintering. The nanocomposite powders were prepared by hydrogen reduction of aluminal and metal oxide powders. Pressureless sintering was done by using infrared heating furnace with a heating rate 100oC/min. The alumina/metal nanocomposites showed sound microstructure with nano-sized metal particles and improved mechanical properties compared with monolithic alumina