ELASTIC-CONSTANTS OF ZIRCONIA STAINLESS-STEEL SINTERED COMPOSITE-MATERIALS MEASURED BY A LINE-FOCUS-BEAM ACOUSTIC MICROSCOPE

The elastic constants of the sintered composites of zirconia/stainless steel were measured by a LFB acoustic microscope as a function of volume mixing ratio. Specimens from various fabrication routes were used to see the applicability of the LFB acoustic microscope to the composites having specific sintered microstructures. It has been shown that the present method enables us to measure the local elastic constants, such as Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio, of the sintered metal/ceramic composites with sufficient accuracy. It has also been emphasized that the LFB acoustic microscope would be one of the most viable methods to evaluate the elastic constant distribution of the recently developed functionally gradient materials, which have definite compositional gradients and the pertaining microstructural transitions.