ABSTRACT
PEELS, EDX and HREM have been used to study the two-grain boundaries and three grain junctions in poly crystalline aluminas sintered with various metal oxide/silica additions of between 0 and 10 wt% to promote densifìcation. The additions resulted in a continuous glassy film at grain boundaries of a thickness which was found to be independent of additive level. The chemistry of the intergranular glass was remarkably different from that found at triple pockets and depended on the molar ratios of the additives which profoundly affected the material’s erosive wear rate.
