Silicon Carbide Platelet/Alumina Composites: I, Effect of Forming Technique on Platelet Orientation

SiC‐platelet‐reinforced Al 2 O 3 ‐matrix composites were made by three different forming techniques, i.e., slip casting, tape casting, and dry compaction of a granulated powder. All samples were densified with hot pressing at 1650°C and 25 MPa for 0.5 h. The orientation of SiC platelets in the composites was studied before and after hot pressing using optical microscopy and a pole figure X‐ray device. X‐ray diffraction of the (0006) plane of silicon carbide (6H) was used to analyze the degree of preferred orientation. It was found that both tape casting and die pressing could give rise to preferred orientation in green bodies with the faces of SiC platelets parallel to the tape faces or perpendicular to the pressing direction, respectively. The preferred orientation in die‐pressed samples also showed an increase with the increase of the compaction stress; however, this reached a saturation level at about 70 MPa in a similar way to the green density. Samples formed by slip casting gave a platelet orientation close to a random one in the green body. After hot pressing, preferred orientation was observed in both slip‐cast and tape‐cast samples with the faces of SiC platelets perpendicular to the direction of hot pressing. The effect of platelet size on the orientation was also investigated. The preferred orientation in platelet composites was found to yield higher toughness than the random state.