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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 February 2012
Ceramics of alumina of high density and purity can have a broad application area due to the combination of the excellent properties such as resistance to corrosion, good biocompatibility, and high resistance to wear and moderate mechanical resistance. But its low fracture toughness limits its range of applications. One possibility of improvement in the properties of these materials might be in the use of nanometric inclusions of ZrO2 into the matrix of Al2O3. The aim of this paper was to obtain and characterize the nanocomposites of alumina containing 0, 5, 10, 15 and 30 vol% of nanometric zirconium, seeking improvements in the mechanical properties and its comparison with values found for the matrix without the inclusion. For that, nanometric particles of ZrO2 were added into the matrix of alumina in the different proportions, using mixture of suspensions. The samples of alumina and nanocomposites of alumina-zirconium were physically, microstructurally and mechanically characterized. The results obtained, showed the efficiency of the used process, obtaining a good dispersion of the particles of zirconium in the matrix of alumina. The adding of up to 15vol% nanometric zirconium in the matrix of alumina promoted an increase in the values of the mechanical properties when compared with alumina. For the nanocomposites containing 30vol%, a good dispersion of the zirconium inclusions did not happen, leading to inferior values in the measured properties.