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Seeding of the Reaction‐Bonded Aluminum Oxide Process
Author(s) -
Suvaci Ender,
Messing Gary L.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1151-2916.2001.tb00719.x
Subject(s) - materials science , seeding , microstructure , sintering , particle size , phase (matter) , oxide , aluminum oxide , aluminium , ceramic , particle (ecology) , chemical engineering , aluminium oxide , metallurgy , composite material , chemistry , thermodynamics , physics , oceanography , organic chemistry , engineering , geology
The effect of the initial α‐Al 2 O 3 particle size in the reaction‐bonded aluminum oxide (RBAO) process on the phase transformation of aluminum‐derived γ‐Al 2 O 3 to α‐Al 2 O 3 , and subsequently densification, was investigated. It has been demonstrated that if the initial α‐Al 2 O 3 particles are fine (∼0.2 μm, i.e., 2.9 × 10 14 γ‐Al 2 O 3 particles/cm 3 ), then they seed the phase transformation. The fine α‐Al 2 O 3 decreases the transformation temperature to ∼962°C and results in a finer microstructure. The smaller particle size of the seeded RBAO decreases the sintering temperature to as low as ∼1135°C. The results confirm that seeding can be utilized to improve phase transformations and densification and subsequently to tailor final microstructures in RBAO‐derived ceramics.