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Crack self-healing ability at high temperatures (>1000 °C) has been reported in alumina (Al2O3) composites dispersed with silicon carbide. For lower self-healing temperature ranges, such as 600–800 °C, titanium carbide (TiC) has been considered as a promising healing agent. However, no investigation has been conducted on Al2O3 containing a low volume (<15 vol %) of TiC. In this study, Al2O3 composites dispersed with 10 vol % of micro/nano TiC particles were prepared by a hot pressing method, then the mechanical properties and the self-healing ability were investigated. The composites were pre-cracked on the surface by a Vickers hardness tester, then annealed at 400 and 700 °C for 1–3 h to demonstrate the self-healing ability. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations and bending strength tests confirmed that the cracks were almost healed after annealing at 700 °C for 3 h. Characterizations by adsorption–desorption isotherm, thermogravimetry, and X-ray diffraction have pointed out that the size of TiC healing particles plays an important role on the healing rate and strength recovery of the composites.
Nguyen et al. (Thu,) studied this question.