In this study, the fabrication of /5vol.%Cu nanocomposite and its mechanical property were discussed. The nanocomposite powders were produced by high energy ball milling of and Cu elemental powders. The ball-milled powders were sintered with Pulse Electric Current Sintering (PECS) facility. The relative densities of specimens sintered at and after soaking process at were 96% and over 97%, respectively. The sintered microstructures were composed of matrix and the nano-sized Cu particles distributed on grain boundaries of matrix. The nanocomposite exhibited the enhanced fracture toughness compared with general monolithic . The toughness increase was explained by the crack deflection and bridging by dispersed Cu particles.

Mechanical properties of oxide based materials could be improved by nanocomposite processing. To investigate optimum route for fabrication of nanocomposite enabling mass production, high energy ball milling and Pulse Electric Current Sintering (PECS) were adopted. By high energy ball milling, the -based composite powder with dispersed Cu grains below 20 nm in diameter was successfully synthesized. The PECS method as a new process for powder densification has merits of improved sinterability and short sintering time at lower temperature than conventional sintering process. The relative densities of the -5vol%Cu composites sintered at and with holding temperature of were 95.4% and 95.7% respectively. Microstructures revealed that the composite consisted of the homogeneous and very fine grains of and Cu with diameters less than 40 nm and 20 nm respectively The composite exhibited enhanced toughness compared with monolithic . The influence of the Cu content upon fracture toughness was discussed in terms of microstructural characteristics.