Aqueous colloidal processing of submicrometric SiC plus Y3Al5O12 with diamond nanoparticles

Aqueous colloidal processing was used for the environmentally friendly preparation of well-dispersed concentrated suspensions and powder mixtures of submicrometric SiC powders with submicrometric Y3Al5O12 as sintering additive plus diamond nanoparticles as reinforcing phase. It is shown that the addition of nano-diamond markedly increases the viscosity and thixotropy of the SiC + Y3Al5O12 suspensions, and also that, by adjusting the pH, deflocculant content, and sonication time it is possible to co-disperse these three rheologically different ceramic phases (i.e., non-oxide, oxide, and hydrophobic compounds) in aqueous media, thereby avoiding the otherwise irremediable severe hetero-aggregation. Moreover, the microstructural characterization of the powder mixtures obtained by freeze-drying the suspensions confirmed the homogeneous dispersion of the diamond nanoparticles among the submicrometric SiC and Y3Al5O12 particles in the form of isolated or adhered nanoclusters and nanodeposits. Implications for engineering the microstructure of non-oxide ceramics with diamond nanodispersoids are discussed.