Abstract
Functionally gradient materials(FGM), which have the continuous or stepwise variation in a composition and microstructure, are being noticed as the material that solves problems caused by heterogeneous interface of coating or joining. And these materials also expect new functions occured by gradient composition itself. Therefore, to examine possibility of thermal barrier materials, TZP/Mo·FGM and TZP/Ni·FGM were fabricated by sintering method. As to the sintered specimens, sintering shrinkage, relative density and Vicker's hardness in each composition were examined. The phenomena due to the difference of sintering shrinkage velocity during sintering process and the thermal stress induced through differences of thermal expansion coefficient in FGM were discussed. And the structure changes at interface and microsturcture of FGM were investigated. As a results, the difference of shrinkage between ceramic and metal was about 14% in TZP/Mo and 7% in TZP/Ni. The relative density and hardness were considerably influenced by metal content changes. Owing to unbalance of sintering shrinkage velocity between ceramic and metal, various sintering defects were occured. To control these sintering defects and thermal stress, gradient composition of FGM should be narrow. The microstructure changes of FGM depended on the ceramic or metal volume percents and were analogous to the theoretical design.
