Compacts of chromic oxide/carbon mixtures have been sintered in vacuum to produce oxide-metal cermets. The effect of carbon addition, type of carbon, purity of oxide, compacting pressure, and sintering temperature on the green and sintered density has been studied, and this has been supplemented by tests of hardness and compressive strength.
Considerable densification can be attained by a small addition of carbon to the powder mixture, and this is accompanied by an increase in compressive strength to 20 tons/in2, compared with 3 tons/in2 for the pure oxide sintered to the same temperature.
