Toughening of Ti3SiC2 with 3Y-TZP addition by spark plasma sintering

3 mol% Yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia (3Y-TZP)/Ti3SiC2 composites with different 3Y-TZP content were fabricated by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) at 1300 °C. The effect of 3Y-TZP content on room-temperature mechanical properties and microstructures of the composites was investigated. The Vickers hardness of the composites increased with the increasing of the 3Y-TZP content. The bending strength and fracture toughness of the composites exhibit the decrease and increase respectively, as the 3Y-TZP content was less than 30 vol.%, whereas they showed the increase and decrease, respectively, as the 3Y-TZP content was higher than 30 vol.%. The maximum fracture toughness of 11.94 MPa m1/2 was achieved for the composite with 30 vol.% 3Y-TZP. The increased fracture toughness involved multiple-toughening behaviors, in which the phase transformation toughening, the crack deflection, and delamination may all have mainly contributed to the improvement of fracture toughness.