Mechanical characterization of microwave sintered zinc oxide

The mechanical characterization of microwave sintered zinc oxide disks is reported. The microwave sintering was done with a specially designed applicator placed in a domestic microwave oven operating at a frequency of 2.45 GHz to a maximum power output of 800 Watt, These samples with a wide variation of density and hence, of open pore volume percentage, were characterized in terms of its elastic modulus determination by ultrasonic time of flight measurement using a 15 MHz transducer, In addition, the load dependence of the microhardness was examined for the range of loads 0.1-20 N, Finally, the fracture toughness data (K-IC) was obtained using the indentation technique.