WU Jianfeng1, XU Xiaoyang2, XU Xiaohong3, XU Yu4, ZHOU Yang5, ZHAN Yaxiang6, LI Kun7
(State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, Hubei, China )
Abstract: Andalusite-matrix composite ceramic materials were fabricated from andalusite, superfine PSZ, Su Zhou clay and so on. The effect of PSZ content on the thermal shock resistance of the andalusite-matrix ceramics was analyzed. Moreover, the composition and microstructure of the samples were characterized by electron probe micro analyzer. The results showed that the disperse phase of ZrO2 in lined to generate phase transformation which hinder crack propagation of the sample leading to high strength and toughness. X-ray diffraction peaks suggested fully developed mullite and zircon phases by reaction sintering of andalusite and PSZ. Microstructure consisting in mullite as a continuous predominant phase in which zircon grain was homogeneously distributed improved almost all the mechanical and fracture properties.
Key words: andalusite; composite ceramics; ZrO2; thermal shock resistance; solar thermal power