Fabrication and Surface Hardening Properties for SiC/AlN Ceramic Composites with Different SiC Grain Size

In this research, the SiC/Al/h-BN composite ceramics with different SiC grain size were fabricated by the method of preparing the machinable pre-sintered body through Plasma Activated Sintering (PAS), which has the advantage of complex shape formation for precision parts. By hardening treatment, the SiC/Al/h-BN composite ceramics would be changed to SiC/AlN composites, and the relatively higher hardness and mechanical properties could be obtained accordingly. The phase transformation and microstructure were observed and the mechanical and other properties were also measured. The results showed that, for different matrix SiC particle size, change tendency of the bending strength was different with the heat treatment temperature change. And the bending strength of composites with larger SiC grain size was higher than that with smaller SiC grain size.