Article abstract
Nature Materials 3, 539 - 544 (2004)
doi:10.1038/nmat1161
Subject Categories: Ceramics | Composites | Structural materials | Mechanical properties
Contact-damage-resistant ceramic/single-wall carbon nanotubes and ceramic/graphite composites
Xiaotong Wang1, Nitin P. Padture1 and Hidehiko Tanaka2
Abstract
There has been growing interest in incorporating single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as toughening agents in brittle ceramics. Here we have prepared dense Al2O3/SWNT composites using the spark-plasma sintering (SPS) method. Vickers (sharp) and Hertzian (blunt) indentation tests reveal that these composites are highly contact-damage resistant, as shown by the lack of crack formation. However, direct toughness measurements, using the single-edge V-notch beam method, show that these composites are as brittle as dense Al2O3 (having a toughness of 3.22 MPa m0.5). This type of unusual mechanical behaviour was also observed in SPS-processed, dense Al2O3/graphite composites. We argue that the highly shear-deformable SWNTs or graphite heterogeneities in the composites help redistribute the stress field under indentation, imparting the composites with contact-damage resistance. These composites may find use in engineering and biomedical applications where contact loading is important.
- Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Institute of Materials Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-3136, USA
- Advanced Materials Laboratory, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan
Correspondence to: Nitin P. Padture1 e-mail: nitin.padture@uconn.edu
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