Objective - Alumina ceramics have an excellent wear cost index and are therefore used in many applications as wear parts and abrasive grits. However, these ceramics are fast becoming unacceptable where higher performance is needed such as in tooling for extrusion and tube drawing of metals. Higher performance materials such as ZTA, SiC and Sialons are now increasingly used in these situations despite the fact that the materials are too sophisticated for the application and thus the costs are too high. Therefore, there is a need to develop successful materials between the two extremes and a major impact will be achieved by enhancing the properties of alumina and, at the same time, maintaining reasonable manufacturing costs. Recent work on nanocomposite ceramics by the partners in this proposal clearly shows an improvement of 2 3 times in reduced wear rate for composites consisting of nanosize SiC particles dispersed in an alumina matrix, compared to monolithic alumina. This is believed to be associated with strengthening of the alumina grain boundaries so that fracture is essentially transcrystalline, rather than intercrystalline, which leads to an increase in the ratio of plastic deformation to brittle fracture near the surface of the ceramic. These encouraging results have greatly interested industrialists who would like to apply the benefits accrued in nanocomposite technology to technical ceramics and abrasive grits by substituting existing monolithic alumina materials with cost effective, higher performance nanocomposites. The objective of this project is to develop nanocomposites which can be fabricated by inexpensive processing (water dispersion, pressureless sintering) and to only use high pressure gas sintering for high performance parts. Building on a previous successful BRITE/EURAM project, two new studies will be carried out: - a detailed scientific study of new fabrication routes based on water processing and pressureless sintering that would define the most economical process for industrial fabrication of alumina SiC nanocomposites. It is anticipated this would lead to applications for wear parts and improved grinding grits in the short to medium term after the conclusion of the project. - a broadly based study to identify potential nanophases other than SiC for incorporation into alumina, the most promising of which will be characterised and assessed. These new materials should lead to exploitation possibilities for a range of industrial sectors in the medium term. The new materials will be tested for wear resistance under laboratory conditions and in industrial applications. The modeling of the results of wear behaviour and other materials properties and their relationships with processing conditions will allow each processing step to be improved and optimised to achieve high performance materials with moderate manufacturing costs. Fields of science agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedsengineering and technologymaterials engineeringcompositesengineering and technologymaterials engineeringceramicsengineering and technologymaterials engineeringnanocomposites Keywords Nanotechnology Programme(s) FP4-BRITE/EURAM 3 - Specific research and technological development programme in the field of industrial and materials technologies, 1994-1998 Topic(s) 0201 - Materials engineering Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator University of Limerick EU contribution No data Address National Technological Park 61 Limerick Ireland See on map Total cost No data Participants (8) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Boart Longyear Technical Centre Ireland EU contribution No data Address 61 Limerick See on map Total cost No data Centre de Recherches de l'Industrie Belge de la Céramique Belgium EU contribution No data Address Avenue Gouverneur Cornez 7000 Mons See on map Total cost No data Molemab Inotech SchleifmittelindustrieGmbH Austria EU contribution No data Address 2,Passerring 2 9321 Kappel See on map Total cost No data Molemab SpA Italy EU contribution No data Address Via Provinciale 10 25050 Ome See on map Total cost No data Morgan Matroc Ltd United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address Bewdley Road DY13 8QR Stourport-on-Severn See on map Total cost No data THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address PARKS ROAD OX1 3PH OXFORD See on map Total cost No data Treibacher Schleifmittel Austria EU contribution No data Address 2,Seebach 2 9523 Villach See on map Total cost No data Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-Cambrésis France EU contribution No data Address 59600 Maubeuge See on map Total cost No data
