“…This tendency is usually linked to a decrease in the composite density, 11 an increase in nanotube agglomeration 17 or a weakening of interfacial bonding when the grains are wrapped by CNT and, therefore, the direct contact area and bonding force among grains decrease with increasing CNT content. 12, 13 In this study, fully densified composites have been obtained, and the increase in the surface density of agglomerates (Table 2) does not play a fundamental role in the evolution of hardness when increasing SWNT content. Thus, it is clear that the incorporation of low SWNT content in the ceramic matrix minimizes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 12 the SWNT weakening effect on interfacial cohesion between ceramic grains observed in composites with high SWNT content.…”