Effect of Al2O3 Addition as Diluent on Combustion Synthesis of Al2O3-ZrB2 Composite

In this study, the effect of Al2O3 addition as a diluent during mechanically activated self-propagating high temperature synthesis (MASHS) of Al2O3-ZrB2 composite was investigated. For this purpose, the thermite mixture of Al, ZrO2, H3BO3 and different amounts of Al2O3 (0, 3, 6, 9 wt.%) were used as the raw materials and mechanically activated for 5 h, then furnace sintering was performed at 650 °C. The results showed that by increasing the Al2O3 content up to 6 wt.%, the intensity of exothermic peak in the DSC curves increases, but for higher additive contents it decreases. In this case, more homogenous distribution of ZrB2 particles with finer grain size was observed.