01-11-2020 | Research and Development | Issue 6/2020
Electrical and Physical Properties of Ceramic Whiskers from the Al2O3-CaB6 System
Abstract: In this study physical properties were determined for ceramic whiskers based on the Al2O3-CaB6 system. Through a wet method and a sintering process between 1400 °C and 1500 °C, aluminium borate (Al18B4O33) was developed from the binary Al2O3 (95-85 %)-CaB6 (5-15 %) system. The whisker microstructure from interlocked fibres (between 8 and 30 µm in width) developed after the sintering process. The addition of CaB6 at the expense of alumina at all additions resulted in an increase of the conductivity and the dielectric constant of the corresponding ceramic materials. The relationships between the phases formed, the conductivity and the dielectric values of the studied specimens were found to differ according to the complicated void structure (pores) in the specimens as detected in SEM images.
