Optical measurements of thermal residual stresses in alumina reinforced with chromium

This work describes optical measurements of processing-induced thermal residual stresses in an alumina matrix reinforced with chromium particles. This ceramic-metal composite is manufactured by the powder metallurgy method comprising powder mixing in a planetary ball mill and consolidation by hot pressing. Two different chromium powders (5 mu m and 45 mu m mean particle size) are used, while the average alumina particle size is kept constant (1 mu m). The residual stresses in aluminum oxide are determined by applying two optical methods: photoluminescence piezo-spectroscopy (PLPS) and Raman spectroscopy (RS). Both experimental techniques reveal a chromium size effect in the residual stress measurements. When the fine chromium powder (5 mu m) is used, the average residual stress in the ceramic phase is tensile (unusual effect), whereas for the coarser chromium powder (45 mu m) it becomes compressive. The PLPS measurements of the hydrostatic residual stress component in the ceramic phase yield the values of 0.290 and -0.130 GPa for samples with 5 mu m and 45 mu m chromium powders, respectively. In the RS experiments, the corresponding stress component in the alumina equals 0.351 GPa for the composite with 5 mu m chromium and -0.158 GPa for that with 45 mu m chromium powder. These values indicate that the residual stress in the alumina reinforced with 5 mu m chromium is approximately twice higher than that in the alumina reinforced with 45 mu m chromium. Finally, the validity of the results obtained with the optical techniques is confirmed by the neutron diffraction measurements. Published under license by AIP Publishing.