Spark plasma sintering of ZrB2- and HfB2-based Ultra High Temperature Ceramics prepared by SHS

The combination of the SHS technique and the Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) technology was adopted in this work for the fabrication of fully dense MB2-SiC and MB2-MC-SiC (M = Zr, Hf) Ultra High Temperature Ceramics (UHTCs). Specifically, Zr or Hf, B4C, Si, and (for the cases of ternary systems) graphite powders were first reacted by SHS to successfully form the desired composites. The resulting powders were then subjected to consolidation by SPS. In particular, by setting a dwell temperature level of 1800°C, a mechanical pressure of 20 MPa, and a non-isothermal heating time of 10 min, products with relative densities ≥98.5% were obtained for the all systems investigated within 30 min of total processing time. The characteristics of the resulting dense UHTCs, i.e. hardness, fracture toughness, and oxidation resistance, are similar to, and in some cases superior than, those related to analogous products synthesized by alternative, less rapid, methods.