Toughening Mechanism of B4C-Al2O3 Composite Ceramics

doi:10.11901/1005.3093.2023.521

Chinese Journal of Materials Research

2024, Vol. 38

Issue (8): 614-620 DOI: 10.11901/1005.3093.2023.521

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Toughening Mechanism of B₄C-Al₂O₃ Composite Ceramics

ZHANG Wei¹(

), ZHANG Jie¹^,²

^1.Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
^2.School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenyang University of Technology, Shenyang 110870, China

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ZHANG Wei, ZHANG Jie. Toughening Mechanism of B₄C-Al₂O₃ Composite Ceramics. Chinese Journal of Materials Research, 2024, 38(8): 614-620.

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Abstract

B₄C ceramics has extremely high hardness, but its fracture toughness is low. In order to improve the fracture toughness of B₄C ceramics, the effect of introducing the second phase Al₂O₃ on the fracture toughness of B₄C ceramics is studied, and the toughening mechanism of B₄C-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics is explored. The results indicate that the addition of Al₂O₃ as the second phase can improve the fracture toughness of B₄C ceramics. Among others, the fracture toughness of B₄C-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics with 40%Al₂O₃reaches a maximum value of 4.96 MPa·m^1/2. The toughening mechanism of B₄C-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics is that Al₂O₃ grains experience cleavage cracking during the crack propagation, increasing the path of crack propagation; thus, part of crack propagation energy is consumed. Meanwhile, residual stress is generated between Al₂O₃ grains and B₄C grains due to their thermal expansion mismatch. On the one hand, the compressive stress inside B₄C grains is beneficial for inhibiting crack propagation. On the other hand, the tensile stress generated at the phase boundary between B₄C grains and Al₂O₃ grains weakens the bonding of the phase boundary to some extent, leading to some cracks propagating along the phase boundary during the propagation process; therefore, some cracks are deflected, and so the fracture toughness of B₄C-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics is improved.

Key words: inorganic non-metallic materials fracture toughness B₄C-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics cleavage structure thermal expansion mismatch crack propagation

Received: 24 October 2023

ZTFLH:

TB321

Fund: Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province of China(2022-MS-013);Starting Grants of Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Science(E255L401);Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science(E21SL412)

Corresponding Authors: ZHANG Wei, Tel: 15542342305, email: cnzhangwei2008@126.com

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Table 1 Composition of B₄C-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics (%, mass fraction)

Fig.1 XRD patterns of B₄C-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics

Table 2 Relative density and grain size of B₄C-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics

Fig.2 Surface morphology of A4 specimen

Fig.3 Grain morphology of A3 specimen (a) typical bright-field TEM micrograph and (b) EDS analysis of O element in Fig.3a

Fig.4 Fracture toughness of B₄C-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics

Fig.5 Surface morphologies of A1 and A3 specimens tested for fracture toughness via IF (a) A1 and (b) A3

Fig.6 Fracture surfaces of B₄C-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics tested for fracture toughness by SENB (a) A0, (b) A1, (c) A2, (d) A3, (e) A4, (f) EDS analysis of point B in Fig.6 (e)

Fig.7 HRTEM image of A4 specimen (a) and schematic diagram of stress distribution in B₄C-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics (b)

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