Preparation and Characterization of Nb2O5-Al2O3 System Ceramics with Different Al2O3 Additions

Abstract

The Nb2O5-Al2O3 binary system ceramics were prepared by high temperature solid state reaction sintering, using Nb2O5 and Al2O3 micro powder as the raw materials. The samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, thermodilatometric analysis and mechanical strength measurement. The influences of Al2O3 content on the phase composition, microstructure, thermal expansion properties and bending strength were investigated. Results show the samples shows obvious changes in phase composition and microstructure with the addition of Al2O3 from 2.5% to 15%. The pure Nb2O5 ceramic is composed of monoclinic phase Nb2O5, while different monoclinic aluminum niobates were formed with different Al2O3 additions. Obvious microcracking can be observed for the samples without and with 2.5% and 7.5% Al2O3 additions. The addition of Al2O3 leads to significant increase of bending strength, and all the samples keep relatively low thermal expansion coefficient (TEC). The Nb2O5-Al2O3 binary system ceramics with ultra low TEC (0.55~0.86×10-6°C-1) and improved bending strength (50.4~70.6MPa) could be obtained with the addition of 7.5~15% Al2O3 when sintered at 1390°C for 2h.