Abstract:
Directionally solidified Al
2O
3/YAG/ZrO
2 eutectic ceramics were prepared by laser zone remelting technique to investigate the rapid solidification microstructure characteristic under ultra-high temperature gradient and different laser processing conditions. The fracture toughness and toughen mechanism were analyzed and discussed. The results show the following. (1) The directionally solidified Al
2O
3/YAG/ZrO
2 eutectic ceramic shows a ‘Chinese script’ microstructure consisting of only three phases of Al
2O
3, YAG and ZrO
2, and no other phases and colonies. The three phases distribute homogeneously and continuously, connect and finely couple each other to form an interpenetrating network, which belongs to the typical lamellar structure of a rapidly solidified irregular eutectic. (2) The eutectic spacing decreases with the increase of scanning rate under certain laser power intensity, and the smallest spacing is only about 0.2~0.3 μm. (3) Some amount of Y
2O
3 dissolves in ZrO
2 phase and this influences the micro-patterns of ZrO
2. (4) The maximum hardness reaches 18.67 GPa and the room-temperature fracture toughness is 8.O MPa·m
1/2. Adding the third component of ZrO
2, small size of phases and crack branching may contribute to the increased fracture toughness.