Liquid-phase-sintered (LPS) SiC ceramicsrepresent a mew class of microstructurally toughenedstructural materials. In order to understand better themicrostructural evolution in these ceramics, thecoarsening kinetics in LPS ?-SiC, containing a Yttriumaluminum garnet (YAG) based liquid phase, was studied.It was confirmed that the coarsening occurs primarilyby solution-reprecipitation (Ostwald ripening). Mostimportantly, the SiC grains were found to be faceted innature, and the coarsening rate was found to beindependent of the vol. liquid in the system of theaverage diffusion path length. Based on theseobservations it is inferred that interface-reactioncontrols the solution-reprecipitation coarsening in LPS SiC.
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