Microstructures and material properties of fibrous Al₂O₃–(m-ZrO₂)/t-ZrO₂ composites fabricated by a fibrous monolithic process

Al₂O₃–(m-ZrO₂)/t-ZrO₂ composite having fibrous and homogeneous microstructure was successfully fabricated using a fibrous monolithic process. The composites had a homogeneous microstructure as well as good interfaces between the Al₂O₃–(m-ZrO₂) and t-ZrO₂ phases. The thickness of each phases were reduced to 375, 50, 5 μm, and 0.7 μm as the number of extrusion passes increased up to 5. The material properties of density, hardness, bending strength, and fracture toughness increased as the passes of extrusion were increased up to a fifth pass, and their maximum values were about 98.5%, 1230 Hv, 570 MPa, and 6.5 MPa⋅m^1/2, respectively. The fracture toughnesses in the direction of longitudinal and transverse direction of the fifth passed sample showed the different values with about 6.5 and 5.4 MPa⋅m^1/2, respectively.