ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the effects of particle and (matrix grain) size and related parameters on hardness, compressive strength, and wear and related behavior at nominally 22°C, i.e. it is analogous to Chapters 4 and 5 for monolithic ceramics. There is, however, much less information on these subjects for ceramic composites, especially specifically on particle parameters, where again the term particle is used in the broad sense of any geometry of a dispersed second phase. Thus more of the material in this chapter is on general composite response to such testing, as opposed to specifics of microstructural effects determining that response. After first covering the limited theoretical background, composite systems will be treated under each topic of hardness, compressive strength, etc. in the approximate order of composite compositions considered in Chapters 8 and 9.
