TY - JOUR
T1 - Fabrication and characterization of FAST sintered micro/nano boron carbide composites with enhanced fracture toughness
AU - Dai, Jingyao
AU - Singh, Jogender
AU - Yamamoto, Namiko
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based upon research partly supported by the U. S. Office of Naval Research under award number N000141712361. The authors are thankful for technical support from Charis Lin and Ricardo Branco from the Department of Aerospace Engineering (PSU), Kevin Busko and Petr Kolonin from the Applied Research Lab (PSU), Julie Anderson, Ke Wang, Haiying Wang, Jenny Gray, Manuel Villalpando, Tim Tighe and Nichole Wonderling from Materials Characterization Lab (PSU).
Funding Information:
This material is based upon research partly supported by the U. S. Office of Naval Research under award number N000141712361. The authors are thankful for technical support from Charis Lin and Ricardo Branco from the Department of Aerospace Engineering (PSU), Kevin Busko and Petr Kolonin from the Applied Research Lab (PSU), Julie Anderson, Ke Wang, Haiying Wang, Jenny Gray, Manuel Villalpando, Tim Tighe and Nichole Wonderling from Materials Characterization Lab (PSU).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Toughening of boron carbide (B4C) without hardness degradation, was achieved by hierarchical structures consisting of B4C micro-grains, titanium diboride (TiB2) grains, and graphitic phases along B4C grain boundaries. Such hierarchical structures were uniquely achieved by co-sintering of B4C micro-powder and carbon-rich B4C nano-powder, in situ formation of TiB2, and by utilizing the short sintering time of field-assisted sintering technology. Toughening mechanisms observed after micro-indentation include crack deflection and delamination of graphite platelets, micro-crack toughening and crack deflection/bridging by TiB2 grains. Fracture toughness enhancement was achieved while maintaining hardness: 4.65 ± 0.49 MPa m1/2 fracture toughness and 31.88 ± 1.85 GPa hardness for a micro/nano B4C-TiB2 composite (15 vol% TiB2 and 15 vol% B4C nano-powders) vs. 2.98 ± 0.24 MPa m1/2 and 32.46 ± 1.67 GPa for a reference micro B4C sample. In future, macro-scale mechanical testing will be conducted to further evaluate how these micro-scale hierarchical structures can be translated to macro-scale mechanical properties.
AB - Toughening of boron carbide (B4C) without hardness degradation, was achieved by hierarchical structures consisting of B4C micro-grains, titanium diboride (TiB2) grains, and graphitic phases along B4C grain boundaries. Such hierarchical structures were uniquely achieved by co-sintering of B4C micro-powder and carbon-rich B4C nano-powder, in situ formation of TiB2, and by utilizing the short sintering time of field-assisted sintering technology. Toughening mechanisms observed after micro-indentation include crack deflection and delamination of graphite platelets, micro-crack toughening and crack deflection/bridging by TiB2 grains. Fracture toughness enhancement was achieved while maintaining hardness: 4.65 ± 0.49 MPa m1/2 fracture toughness and 31.88 ± 1.85 GPa hardness for a micro/nano B4C-TiB2 composite (15 vol% TiB2 and 15 vol% B4C nano-powders) vs. 2.98 ± 0.24 MPa m1/2 and 32.46 ± 1.67 GPa for a reference micro B4C sample. In future, macro-scale mechanical testing will be conducted to further evaluate how these micro-scale hierarchical structures can be translated to macro-scale mechanical properties.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2020.05.074
DO - 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2020.05.074
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85086441415
SN - 0955-2219
VL - 40
SP - 5272
EP - 5285
JO - Journal of the European Ceramic Society
JF - Journal of the European Ceramic Society
IS - 15
ER -