Enhancement of thermal shock resistance of reaction sintered mullite–zirconia composites in the presence of lanthanum oxide

•Mullite–zirconia composites were prepared by reaction sintering route utilizing zircon and sillimanite beach sand.•Lanthanum oxide was used as sintering aid.•The presence of lanthanum oxide decreased the densification temperature.•Lanthanum oxide significantly improved the thermal shock resistance of the composites.

Mullite–zirconia composites containing 20 wt.% zirconia were prepared by reaction sintering of zircon flour, sillimanite beach sand and calcined alumina. 0 to 8 mol% of La2O3 with respect to zirconia was used as sintering aid. The effect of additive on the various physical, microstructures, mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties was studied. Quantitative phase analysis shows the change in tetragonal zirconia content with incorporation of lanthanum oxide. La2O3 addition has significantly improved the thermal shock resistance of the samples. Samples without additive retained only 20% of initial flexural strength after 5 cycles, whereas samples containing 5 mol% La2O3 retained almost 78% of its initial flexural strength even after 15 thermal shock cycles.