The Effects of Carbon Content on ZrCO Microspheres Prepared by Internal Gelation Process with Carbon Black

摘要

ZrCO ceramic microspheres were fabricated by sol-gel combined with carbothermic reduction. The effect of carbon on the physicochemical characteristics of the microspheres was investigated. The results indicated that with the increase of carbon content in the broth, the interior structure of the sintered microspheres would become loose, which led to the lowering of the density and the decreasing of crush strength of the ZrCO microspheres. Crack-free ZrCO ceramic microspheres with the high mass fraction of ZrC could be successfully obtained with C/Zr =3 in the broth sintered at 1550°C for 4h in argon containing 5%CO.