Contour maps of mechanical properties in ternary ZrB2-TiC-SiC ceramic system

Monolithic ZrB 2 , ZrB 2 -SiC, ZrB 2 -TiC and ZrB 2 -SiC-TiC were fabricated by hot pressing. Contour maps depicting grain size and mechanical properties were generated on the ZrB 2 -SiC-TiC ternary diagram through experimental data and software fitting. These visual representations effectively establish the relationships between chemical composition and material properties, despite the similar high hardness of three main compounds. Notably, the average grain size of ZrB 2 -SiC-TiC is significantly reduced by an order of magnitude compared to monolithic ZrB 2 . Both strength and hardness exhibit a strong correlation with grain size, while the elastic modulus demonstrates insensitivity to microstructure changes. The evolution of toughness proves to be complex.