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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2015
Composites of 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and titanium nitride (TiN) were obtained by mechanical mixing of commercial powders. High-density samples of (1-x) YSZ / x TiN, with x = 0, 25, 50, and 75 wt.%, were obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 1450 °C for 5 min. Surface contamination with carbon from the SPS was eliminated by diamond sawing of parallel surfaces. X-rays diffraction analyses showed that samples are composed by a mixture of the initial phases, without appreciable reaction as inferred from calculated lattice parameters. dc 4-probe electrical measurements in the 100-850°C under showed that samples have a metallic behavior, indicating that the percolation threshold was attained for the sample with the lowest content of the TiN (x=25 wt.%), which corresponds to ∼27 vol.%.