ZHANG Weike ¹, CHANG Jie ¹, ZHANG Min ¹, TAN Xunyan ², ZHANG Yujun ¹, GAO Lizhen ¹

(1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 Sanxi, China; 2.Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Jingdezhen, 333000 Jiangxi, China; 3. School of Materials Science and Engineering,Shandong University, Jinan 250061, Shandong, China)

Abstract: B₄C-Si composites were fabricated through SiC whiskers reinforcement. Effects of the addition of SiCw on the flexural strength and fracture toughness of SiCw-B₄C-Si ceramic composites were investigated. The microstructure was analyzed by SEM. The results showed that when the doping amount of SiCw reached the optimal 5 wt.%, the flexural strength and fracture toughness of the composites were 467.9MPa and 5.77 MPa•m^1/2 respectively, and the fracture toughness of the composite was improved by almost 35%.

Key words: SiC whisker; reinforcement; boron carbide; B₄C-Si composites