Glass-alumina functionally graded materials: their preparation and compositional profile evaluation

This work was focused on glass-alumina functionally graded materials (FGMs). For the glass phase, a proper composition was chosen belonging to the ternary system CaO–ZrO2–SiO2 and the substrate was made up of a sintered, high-purity polycrystalline alumina. Both of the ingredient materials were carefully characterized. The fabricated functionally graded materials were analysed in detail, by observing them under a scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with an X-ray energy dispersive spectrometer (X-EDS). The depth of penetration of the glass and the compositional profile were evaluated by means of a SEM-image elaboration. Moreover, this work applied an analytical model to predict the depth of penetration as a function of time and fabricating parameters such as temperature.