A Taguchi approach to the influence of hot pressing parameters and SiC content on the sinterability of ZrB₂-based composites

In this paper, the effects of the hot pressing parameters and SiC content on the densification of ZrB₂-based composites have been studied. This research reports a design of experiment approach, the Taguchi method, employed to analyze the processing of ZrB₂-SiC composites based on four processing parameters: the hot pressing temperature, the soaking time, the applied pressure and SiC content. In this way, an L9 orthogonal array, including nine experiments for four parameters with three levels, was used to optimize the processing factors. The analysis of variance identified the applied pressure as the most impressive parameter affecting the densification and hardness of ZrB₂-SiC composites. A relative density of ~ 96% and a Vickers hardness of 15.2 GPa were achieved for ZrB₂-25 vol.% SiC composite with the sintering temperature of 1850 °C, the soaking time of 90 min and the applied pressure of 16 MPa. The confirmation test, fulfilled under the optimal conditions, disclosed that the result of the experiment and the Taguchi prediction were alike.