Development and Characterization of Lightweight ZrB2–B4C Functionally Graded Composites

The present work studied indentation fracture toughnessFracture toughness and X-ray micro-CTX-ray micro-CT of novel lightweight three-layer ZrB2–B4C functionally graded materialMaterials developed by spark plasma sinteringSintering route. The density of the fabricated FGM is 40% lower than monolithic ZrB2. The composition of each layer was selected to reduce the overall density without compromising the materialMaterials's functionality. The measured fracture toughnessFracture toughness for the top layer is 5.2 ± 0.4 Mpa(m)0.5. The presence of any defectDefects could not be detected in the 3D images generated after X-ray micro-CTX-ray micro-CT scanning.