Abstract: A slurry dip-coating technique was developed for fabrication of ZrO2/Mo-Si/Ni functionally graded material (FGM) on the stainless steel substrate. The rheological behavior of ZrO2-Ni-ethanol slurry was characterized by viscosity test. The amount of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) additives, which served as the dispersant and binder in ZrO2-Ni-ethanol slurry, was optimized. The results showed that the characters of mixed slurries with added 9vol. Pct (relatively to total powders) MoSi2 powders prepared by mechanical alloying changed little. The stainless steel substrate was coated several times by dipping in the slurries, and followed by drying in air every dipping. After debinding in Ar in graphite die, the coated FGM plate was finally hot pressed at 1300oC for 1h under the pressure of 5MPa in Ar in the same die. Microstructural observations of the sintered FGM specimens revealed that the graded layers were formed on the stainless steel substrate, in which no cracks were observed

Key words: Slurry dip-coating technique, Functionally graded material (FGM), Polyvinyl butyral (PVB)