Indentation Behavior and Mechanical Properties of Tungsten/Chromium co-Doped Bismuth Titanate Ceramics Sintered at Different Temperatures

A sort of tungsten/chromium(W/Cr) co-doped bismuth titanate (BIT) ceramics (Bi4Ti2.95W0.05O12.05 + 0.2 wt % Cr2O3, abbreviate to BTWC) are ordinarily sintered between 1050 and 1150 °C, and the indentation behavior and mechanical properties of ceramics sintered at different temperatures have been investigated by both nanoindentation and microindentation technology. Firstly, more or less Bi2Ti2O7 grains as the second phase were found in BTWC ceramics, and the grain size of ceramics increased with increase of sintering temperatures. A nanoindentation test for BTWC ceramics reveals that the testing hardness of ceramics decreased with increase of sintering temperatures, which could be explained by the Hall–Petch equation, and the true hardness could be calculated according to the pressure-state-response (PSR) model considering the indentation size effect, where the value of hardness depends on the magnitude of load. While, under the application of microsized Vickers, the sample sintered at a lower temperature (1050 °C) gained four linearly propagating cracks, however, they were observed to shorten in the sample sintered at a higher temperature (1125 °C). Moreover, both the crack deflection and the crack branching existed in the latter. The hardness and the fracture toughness of BTWC ceramics presented a contrary variational tendency with increase of sintering temperatures. A high sintering tends to get a lower hardness and a higher fracture toughness, which could be attributed to the easier plastic deformation and the stronger crack inhibition of coarse grains, respectively, as well as the toughening effect coming from the second phase.