(AlN)xMo1 − x (x = 0.5) composite fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS)

Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) was used to fabricate (AlN)xMo1 − x (x = 0.5) composites in this work. The chemical stability, densification mechanism and microstructure evolution of the system were focally investigated by SPS, as well as the effects of their microstructure on their properties. Results show that rapid densifications were attained by SPS due to the Mo plastic deformation mechanism, greatly inhibiting the Mo grain growth and resulting in remarkable improvements of the mechanical properties, such as a flexural strength of 811.2 MPa, a Rockwell hardness of 88.5 and a thermal conductivity of 92.9 W/(m*K). When the sintering temperature was increased to 1900 °C, an unexpected chemical reaction occurred as well as the recordable AlN grain growth that greatly degraded the flexural strength of the composites.