Study of the Sintering of Mixtures Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-Nb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> and Y<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-Nb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub>

Abstract

Al 2 O 3 -Nb 2 O 5 has been widely explored as one of the most used material for sintering mixing in the literature, due to its excellent hardness properties, used in armor. In this study, Al 2 O 3 -Nb 2 O 5 and Y 2 O 3 -Nb 2 O 5 powders were prepared, with 50% in mole fraction of each oxide. The mixtures were subjected to high energy milling in an eccentric ball mill for 3 h, dried and sieved in a sieve vibrator. The green bodies were compacted at 70 MPa and sintered from 1250 to 1650 °C for 3 h, at 100 °C steps. The materials were characterized by quantitative X-Ray diffraction (XRD) using Rietveld method and by mass loss. The Al 2 O 3 -Nb 2 O 5 mixtures experienced a weight loss of 84% at sintering temperatures of 1550 and 1650 °C.