Silicon carbide ceramics with sintering additives from the system AlN-Y$_2$O$_3$ can be gas-pressure sintered to theoretical density. While commonly a combination of sesquioxides is used such as Al$_2$O$_3$-Y$_2$O$_3$, the oxynitrid additives offer the advantage that only a nitrogen atmosphere is require instead of a powder. By starting form a mixture of ${\beta}$-SiC and ${\alpha}$-SiC, and by performing dedicated heat treatments after densification, anisotropic grain growth is obtained which leads to a platelet microstructure showing enhance fracture toughness. In the present work, recent improvement of the mechanical behaviour of these materials at ambient and high temperatures is reported. By means of a surface oxidation treatment in air it is possible to obtain four-point bending strengths in excess of 1 GPa, and the strength retention at high temperatures is significantly improved.

The demand for sub-micrometer or nanometer functional ceramic powders with a better suspension behavior in aqueous media in increasing. Redispersible barium titanate (BT) nanocrystals, green light emitting Mn2+ doped Zn$_2$SiO$_4$ and ZnS nanoparticle phosphors were synthesized by a hydrothermal method or chemical precipitation with surface modification. The nanoparticle redispersibility for BT was achieved by using a polymeric surfactant. X-ray diffraction(XRD) results indicated that the BT particles are of cubic phase with 80 nm in size. XRD results of zinc silicate phosphor indicate that seeds play an important role in enhancing the nucleation and crystallization of Zn$_2$SiO$_4$ crystals in a hydrothermal condition. This paper describes and discuss the methods of surface modification, and the resulting related properties for BT, zinc silicate and zinc sulfide.

Silicon nitride ceramics with various α/β phase ratio were fabricated by controlling sintering conditions of PECS process. Mechanical properties varied systematically with α/β ratio. Young's modulus and hardness increased with α-Si₃N₄ volume fraction, and fracture strength and toughness increased with β-Si₃N₄ content.

Rare earth-doped ceria powders with a composition of Ce0.8R0.2O1.9(R=Yb, Y, Gd, Sm, Nd and La) were prepared by heating the oxalate coprecipitate. The green compacts began to shrink at 600$^{\circ}$-700$^{\circ}C$. The relative density after the sintering at 1200$^{\circ}$ and 1400$^{\circ}C$ became higher for the higher green density. The samples were densified above 98% relative density by the sintering ant 1600$^{\circ}C$ for 4 h and the grain sizes (4.7-7.6$\mu\textrm{m}$) showed a tendency to become larger with increasing ionic radius of doped-rare earth element. In the intial stag of sintering at 700$^{\circ}$-800$^{\circ}C$, the dominant mass transport process changed from lattice diffusion to grain boundary diffusion to grain boundary diffusion with heating time. The porosity during the intermediated and final stage of the sintering at 1200$^{\circ}$ and 1400$^{\circ}C$ decreased by the mass transport through lattice diffusion with grain growth.

A new paradigm of crystal growth was suggested in a charged cluster model, where charged clusters of nanometer size are suspended in the gas phase in most thin film processes and are a major flux for thin film growth. The existence of these hypothetical clusters was experimentally confirmed in the diamond and silicon CVD processes as well as in gold and tungsten evaporation. These results imply new insights as to the low pressure diamond synthesis without hydrogen, epitaxial growth, selective deposition and fabrication of quantum dots, nanometer-sized powders and nanowires or nanotubes. Based on this concept, we produced such quantum dot structures of carbon, silicon, gold and tungsten. Charged clusters land preferably on conducting substrates over on insulating substrates, resulting in selective deposition. if the behavior of selective deposition is properly controlled, charged clusters can make highly anisotropic growth, leading to nanowires or nanotubes.

The charged cluster model states that chemical vapor deposition (CVD) begins with gas phase nucleation of charged clusters followed by cluster deposition on a substrate surface to form a thin film. A two-chambered CVD system, separated by a 1-mm orifice, was used to study gold deposition by thermal evaporation in order to determine if the CCM applies in this case. At a filament temperature of 1523 and 1773 K, the presence of nano-meter sized gold clusters was found to be positive and the cluster size and size distribution increased with increasing temperature. Small clusters were found to be amorphous and they combined with clusters already deposited on a substrate surface to form larger amorphous clusters on the surface. This work revealed that gold thin films deposited on a mica surface are the result of the sticking of 4-10 nm clusters. The topography of these films was similar to those reported previously under similar conditions.

Wet-chemical process using ammonia to precipitate aluminum ion dissolved in a zirconia sol solution is examined. Formation of crystalline bayerite is unfavorable for fine dispersion of zirconia nanoparticles in alumina matrix after heat treatment. To avoid the bayerite formation, it was preferred to make a precipitation with a diluted ammonia or with an ammonia gas flow at high temperature. By optimizing the precipitation process and the calcination temperature, we successfully prepared the uniform microstructure in which tetragonal zirconia particles of ∼30nm is finely dispersed within the alumina grains.

A polymerized organic-inorganic complexation route is introduced for the synthesis of oxide ceramic powders. Polyvinyl alcohol was used as the organic carrier for precursor ceramic gel. Porous and soft powders, which have a high specific surface area, were obtained after calcinating the aerated precursors. The PVA content and its degree of polymerization had a significant influence on the homogeneity of the final powder. In particular, attrition milling process with the porous powder resulted in ultra-fine particles. In the case of the preparation of cordierite powder, nano-size powder, which has a high specific surface area of 181 ㎡/g, was obtained by the milling process. The complexation route was also applied to the synthesis of unstable phase in room temperature like beta-cristobalite, high temperature form of silica.

Ceramic on ceramic total hip prostheses are developed to apply to young patients because lifetime of polyethylene joint prostheses is limited by loosening due to biological response. As mating faces of all-ceramic joint must be highly conformed to reduce stress concentration, wear properties of flat surfaces are investigated in this study. Through wear tests at 2 MPa of contact pressure and 36 mm/s of sliding velocity, alumina and silicon carbide keep low wear rate, high hardness and smooth surface. Soft surface film was detected after the test in bovine serum. This suggests that boundary lubrication is effective to reduce wear in all-ceramic joint.

Aluminium titanate (Al₂TiO5) with an excellent thermal shock resistant and a low the expansion coefficient was obtained by solid solution with MgO, SiO₂, and ZrO₂ in the Al₂TiO5 lattice or in the grain boundary solution through electrofusion in an arc furnace. However, these materials have low mechanical strength due to the presence of microcracks developed by a large difference in thermal expansion coefficients along crystallographic axes. Pure Al₂TiO5 tends to decompose into α-Al₂O₃ and TiO₂-rutile in the temperature range of 750-1300℃ that rendered it apparently useless for industrial applications. Several thermal shock tests were performed: Long therm thermal annealing test at 1100℃ for 100h; and water quenching from 950 to room temperature (RT). Cyclic thermal expansion coefficients up to 1500℃ before and after decomposition tests was also measured using a dilatometer, changes in the microstructure, thermal expansion coefficients, Young's modulus and strengths were determined. The role of microcracks in relation to thermal shock resistance and thermal expansion coefficient is discussed.

The high-speed steel (shorten as HSS) consists of Fe and several kinds of transition metal carbides. The cutting tools or wear-resistant materials made from HSS experience relatively high thermal shock because a coolant such as water or oil is flowed over the surface of heated HSS. The purpose of this research is to increase the hardness, strength, fracture toughness and thermal shock resistance of HSS. A possible strategy is to incorporate a hard ceramic material with high strength in HSS matrix. This paper describes the processing, microstructure and mechanical properties of the oriented unidirectional mullite fiber/HSS composite. The unidirectional mullite fibers of 10${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ diameter were dispersed by the ultrasonic irradiation of 38 kHz in an ethylenglycol suspension containing HSS powder of 11${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ median size. The dried green composites with 4-68 vol% fibers were hot-pressed for 2h at 100$0^{\circ}C$ in Ar atmosphere under a pressure of 39 MPa. The higher density was achieved in the composite with a lower content of fibers. The oriented unidirectional fibers were well dispersed in the HSS matrix. The average distance between the center of fibers in the cross section was close to the value calculated from the fiber fraction. No reaction occurred at the interfaces between HSS and mullite fibers in the composites. The composite with 13.6 vol% fibers showed 100 MPa of four point flexural strength at room temperature. The thermal expansion of composite with heating was influenced by the orientation of mullite fibers.

The Valence(Z) of positively and negatively charged alumina particles in the dilute suspensions was analyzed with the electrical conductivity of the suspensions. The mobility of negative particles was lower than that of positive particles at a similar Z value because of the stronger effect of chemical bonding over the hydrated particle surfaces. The apparent viscosity of acidic suspensions of 1-40 vol % solid was lower than that of basic suspensions. This result was discussed based on the three important effects of the valence, concentration and nature of hydrated surface of alumina particles. The density of alumina compacts consolidated by filtration through gypsum molds became lower for the basic suspensions than for the acidic suspensions. This result was correlated to the properties of the colloidal alumina suspensions.

Cordierite/ZrO$_2$ composites with 5 to 25wt% ZrO$_2$ were fabricated by prssureless sintering, and their densification behavior, fracture strength, fracture toughness, microstructure and thermal expansion behavior were studied. The ZrO$_2$ addition into cordierite matrix affects the densification behavior and mechanical properties of the composites. By dispersing 25wt% ZrO$_2$, densified cordierite/ZrO$_2$ composite with a relative density of 98.5% was obtained at optimum sintering condition of 144$0^{\circ}C$/2H. Both fracture strength and toughness were increased from 140 to 290MPa and from 1.6 to 3.5 MPam$\frac{1}{2}$, respectively, by dispersing 25wt% ZrO$_2$ into the cordierite matrix. ZrO$_2$ particles were homogenously dispersed into cordierite matrix, which intragranular particles were fine(<100nm) and intergranular particles were coarse. The toughening mechanisms in the present composites were mainly attributed to martensitic transformation toughening. Then, the addition of ZrO$_2$ is likely to have little deleterious effect upon thermal expansion coefficient of cordierite.

Effect of NiO addition on microstructure, stability of tetragonal phase and mechanical properties was investigated. (Y, Ni)-TZP solid solution was obtained by pressureless sintering. The fracture toughness was increased by solid solution of NiO. Neither reaction phase nor glassy phase was observed at the grain boundaries. From these results, it was determined that solid solution of NiO was destabilized tetragonal phase of Y-TZP. Y-TZP/Ni nanocomposite that contained nano-sized Ni particles was also fabricated by internal reduction method. Some evaluations and discussions were carried out for both (Y, Ni)-TZP solid solution and Y-TZP/Ni nanocomposite.