Forming tough, single phase laminates of Fe_2TiO_5 via magnetic-assisted gelcasting

Single phase laminates of iron titanate were formed by gelcasting both in the presence and absence of a magnetic field to produce alternating layers of textured and non-textured microstructure, respectively. X-ray analysis was performed on each lamina verifying that alignment was maintained throughout processing. Toughness of trilayer laminates (non-textured/textured/non-textured) were measured using a modified version of the short double cantilever beam geometry. Toughness experiments resulted in large scale crack deflection of several hundred microns. Peak toughnesses were measured to be well over 8 MPa•m^(1/2) which is a substantial improvement over monolithic iron titanate.