Hyperfine Interact (2010) 198:219–228 DOI 10.1007/s10751-010-0178-3 A short and long range study of mullite–zirconia–zircon composites Nicolás M. Rendtorff · Maria S. Conconi · Esteban F. Aglietti · Cecilia Y. Chain · Alberto F. Pasquevich · Patricia C. Rivas · Jorge A. Martínez · María C. Caracoche Published online: 21 July 2010 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Abstract In the field of refractory materials, ceramics containing mullite–zirconia are the basis of those most used in the industry of glass and steel. It is known that the addition of zircon improves the behavior of the refractory used in service. Knowing that some mullite–zirconia composites properties as fracture strength and the elastic modulus E are associated with the material microstructure integrity, the eventual thermal decomposition of zircon into zirconia and silica could seriously alter the material elastic properties. In this paper the phase content of a series of mullite–zirconia–zircon (3Al 2 O 3 .2SiO 2 –ZrO 2 –ZrSiO 4 ) composites is determined at atomic level via perturbed angular correlations (PAC) and compared with that derived from the long range X-ray diffraction technique. PAC results on the as- prepared materials indicate that all nominal zircon is present and that it involves two types of nanoconfigurations, one of them describing aperiodic regions. The N. M. Rendtorff · M. S. Conconi · E. F. Aglietti Centro de Tecnología de Recursos Minerales y Cerámica (CETMIC: CONICET-CIC), Camino Centenario y 506, C. C. 49 (B1897ZCA), M. B. Gonnet, Buenos Aires, Argentina N. M. Rendtorff · E. F. Aglietti · P. C. Rivas CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina C. Y. Chain · A. F. Pasquevich · J. A. Martínez (B ) · M. C. Caracoche Departamento de Física, IFLP, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 1900 La Plata, Argentina e-mail: toto@fisica.unlp.edu.ar C. Y. Chain · A. F. Pasquevich · J. A. Martínez · M. C. Caracoche CIC-BA, Buenos Aires, Argentina P. C. Rivas IFLP, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 1900 La Plata, Argentina