SiC has a low density, high hardness, chemical stability, low thermal expansion, and high strength at high temperatures. However the low fracture toughness of SiC ceramic limits its widely industrial application. One of the most obvious methodsto improve the mechanical properties has been to add a reinforcing agent to formulate a nanostructured composite materials. In this respect, graphene was evaluated as the reinforcing agent of SiC ceramics using pulsed current activated sintering(PCAS). SiC-graphene composites were obtained within short time by PCAS under a pressure of 80 MPa. The effect ofgraphene on hardness and microstructure of SiC-Graphene composite was evaluated using FE-SEM and Vickers hardnesstester.

Keywords: Nano-materials, Sintering, Hardness, Composite, Graphene