Fabrication of Al2O3/Ni-P nanocomposites with phase percolation by high pressure sintering of chemically coated alumina powders.

The present paper shows the possibility of fabrication, under high pressure, of composites with percolated structure from alumina powder coated with nanoparticles of Ni-P to electroless nickel plating process. This process leads to either uniformly dispersed nanoparticles of Ni-P (size range of 10-100 nm) or thin nanometric layers covering the entire grain surface of the ceramic powder. By high pressure sintering one can obtain two types of nanocomposites from coated powders: (a) Al2O3/Ni-P particulate system and (b) ceramic metal percolated structure. Three kinds of composites with percolated structures were fabricated at different temperatures and investigated by SEM and TEM. The results were compared with model structures for percolated structures.