Reactive Synthesis of ZrB2-based Ultra High Temperature Ceramics

Reactive processing, such as reactive hot pressing (RHP) and reactive spark plasma sintering (R-SPS), is effective densification method to prepare ZrB2-based ultra high temperature ceramics (UHTCs). The present paper reviewed some typical reactive processing of ZrB2-based UHTCs. All the reactions from the starting materials in the reactive processing are thermodynamically favorable, which generate enough energy and driving force for the densification of the final products under a relatively low temperature. Besides, compared with non-reactive processing, anisotropic ZrB2 grains, such as ZrB2 platelets, can only be obtained in the reactive processing, resulting in an improvement of the mechanical properties.