Thermal shock resistance of in situ toughened α-SiAlONs with barium aluminosilicate as an additive sintered by SPS

The thermal shock properties of 5 wt% BAS/α-SiAlON ceramics fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique have been valuated with an indentation-quench method based on Vickers cracks. The obtained materials possessed excellent thermal shock resistance due to the formation of self-reinforced microstructure. The co-doped α-SiAlONs exhibited better thermal shock resistance, undergoing a more stable crack growth than the single-doped ones. It is attributed to the higher fracture toughness.