Preparation and Mechanical Property of Alumina Fibers Reinforced Thin Architectural Ceramic Plate

The fibers reinforced thin architectural ceramic plate of 900 mm×1800 mm×2.5 mm with high mechanical property was prepared by a fast-sintering method with a controllable fiber dispersion process. The effects of ball-milling time to the dispersity, average length-diameter ratio and microstructure of alumina fibers were investigated respectively. Meanwhile, the alumina fiber contents to the volume density, water absorption, phase transformation and microstructure of the thin ceramic plate were researched. It is found that the two-steps ball-milling process can control the average length-diameter ratio of the alumina fibers effectively and achieve a well dispersion mixture of fibers and ceramic powders, the fast-sintering method is beneficial for the protection of fiber/matrix interface. The trend of the volume density and bending strength increases with the fiber content from 0 wt% to 5 wt% and then decreases with the fiber content from 5 wt% to 15 wt%. The bending strength of this composite reaches the maximum value of 146.8 MPa with the fiber content is 5 wt%, which is corresponding to the strengthening of alumina fibers and the formation of mullite crystallization in fiber/matrix interface and matrix during the fast-sintering process.