OH and COOH functionalized single walled carbon nanotubes-reinforced alumina ceramic nanocomposites (original) (raw)
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Advances in Science and Technology, 2014
The present study emphasizes on the fabrication of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) reinforced alumina nanocomposites for structural applications. A new technique for the mixing and dispersion of CNTs in alumina powder was employed. Spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique was used for the fabrication of nanocomposites with varying amounts of as-received CNTs (1, 2 and 3 weight %) in alumina matrix. Densification behavior, hardness and fracture toughness of the nanocomposites were studied. A comparison of mechanical properties of the desired nanocomposites was presented. An improvement in fracture toughness of approximately 14% at 1 wt% CNT-alumina nanocomposite over monolithic alumina compacts was observed due to better dispersion of CNTs in alumina matrix that ultimately helped in grain growth suppression to provide finer grain in the nanocomposites. The fractured surfaces also revealed the presence of CNTs bridging and pull out that aided in the improvement of mechanical properties. The synthesized samples were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, densification, Vickers hardness testing and fracture toughness measurements.
Ceramics International, 2016
Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT), single-double walled carbon nanotube (SDWCNT) and singlewalled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) were dispersed for the first time into alumina matrix using conventional mixing/sonication for dispersion of pristine CNTs followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The resultant composites displayed an increase of the grain size, a decrease in fracture toughness from 8% to 40% over monolithic Al 2 O 3 and the hardness values did not change significantly with the addition of CNTs. In the light of the observed fracture surfaces in different CNT reinforced alumina composites, poor dispersion of these into ceramic matrix will lead to a decrease in fracture toughness. On the other hand, the lower ratio aspects, large surface areas of CNTs, as well as large grain size could be unfavorable to achieve high fracture toughness and the results are worse than for pure alumina questioning whether worth the effort to reinforce alumina with CNTs to obtain marginal improvement under the present conditions, although the literature has reported significant improvement of mechanical properties with alumina and other ceramics systems reinforced with CNTs, resulting from different testing techniques adopted.
Advances in Science and Technology, 2014
The present study emphasizes on the fabrication of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) reinforced alumina nanocomposites for structural applications. A new technique for the mixing and dispersion of CNTs in alumina powder was employed. Spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique was used for the fabrication of nanocomposites with varying amounts of as-received CNTs (1, 2 and 3 weight %) in alumina matrix. Densification behavior, hardness and fracture toughness of the nanocomposites were studied. A comparison of mechanical properties of the desired nanocomposites was presented. An improvement in fracture toughness of approximately 14% at 1 wt% CNT-alumina nanocomposite over monolithic alumina compacts was observed due to better dispersion of CNTs in alumina matrix that ultimately helped in grain growth suppression to provide finer grain in the nanocomposites. The fractured surfaces also revealed the presence of CNTs bridging and pull out that aided in the improvement of mechanical properties. The synthesized samples were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, densification, Vickers hardness testing and fracture toughness measurements.
Journal of Solid Mechanics and Materials Engineering, 2010
Carbon nanotube is nature's smallest fiber and predicted to have a range of unusual mechanical and electrical properties. One possible route to harnessing these properties for applications would be to incorporate nanotubes in a composite material. Here, we report the mechanical properties of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) reinforced alumina composites made with a pristine MWCNT and an acid-treated version that have nanoscale defects on their surfaces from an acid treatment. It was demonstrated that surface modification of the MWCNT is effective in improvement of bending strength and fracture toughness of the MWCNT-reinforced alumina composites. On the basis of the results, we also prepared three sets of the acid-treated MWCNT-reinforced alumina composites having different sintering additives, in order to investigate the effects of sintering additives on their microstructures and mechanical properties. Mechanical properties of the composites were dependent mostly on the type of sintering additives and amount of MWCNT. The 0.9 vol.% acid-treated MWCNT-reinforced alumina composites with MgO sintering additive gave the highest bending strength (689.6 ± 29.1 MPa) and fracture toughness (5.90 ± 0.27 MPa•m 1/2), respectively.
Journal of The European Ceramic Society, 2010
Preparation, structure and properties of hydrothermally treated carbon nanotube/boehmite (CNT/γ-AlOOH) and densification with spark plasma sintering of Al2O3 and CNT/Al2O3 nanocomposites were investigated. Hydrothermal synthesis was employed to produce CNT/boehmite from an aluminum acetate (Al(OH)(C2H3O2)2) and multiwall-CNTs mixture (200 °C/2 h.). TEM observations revealed that the size of the cubic shape boehmite particles lies around 40 nm and the presence of the interaction between surface functionalized CNTs and boehmite particles acts to form ‘nanocomposite particles’. Al2O3 and CNT/Al2O3 compact bodies were formed by means of spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 1600 °C for 5 min using an applied pressure of 50MPa resulting in the formation of stable α-Al2O3 phase and CNT–alumina compacts with nearly full density. It was also found that CNTs tend to locate along the alumina grain boundaries and therefore inhibit the grain coarsening and cause inter-granular fracture mode. The DC conductivity measurements reveal that the DC conductivity of CNT/Al2O3 is 10−4 S/m which indicate that there is a 4 orders of magnitude increase in conductivity compared to monolithic Al2O3. The results of the microhardness tests indicate a slight increase in hardness for CNT/Al2O3 (28.35 GPa for Al2O3 and 28.57 GPa for CNT/Al2O3).
Materials, 2021
This paper focuses on reporting results obtained by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) consolidation and characterization of aluminum-based nanocomposites reinforced with concentrations of 0.5 wt%, 1 wt% and 2 wt% of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Experimental characterization performed by SEM shows uniform carbon nanotube (CNT) dispersion as well as carbon clusters located in the grain boundary of the Al matrix. The structural analysis and crystallite size calculation were performed by X-ray diffraction tests, detecting the characteristic CNT diffraction peak only for the composites reinforced with MWCNTs. Furthermore, a considerable increment in the crystallite size value for those Al samples reinforced and sintered with 1 wt% of CNTs was observed. Hardness tests show an improvement in the composite surface hardness of about 11% and 18% for those samples reinforced with 2 wt% of SWNCTs and MWCNTs, respectively. Conductivity measur...
Preparation and Microstructure of Carbon Nanotube-Toughened Alumina Composites
Journal of Solid Mechanics and Materials Engineering, 2009
Engineering ceramics have high stiffness, excellent thermostability and relatively low density, but their brittleness impedes their use as structural materials. Incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into a brittle ceramic might be expected to produce CNT/ceramic composites with both high toughness and high temperature stability. Until now, however, materials fabrication difficulties have limited research on CNT/ceramic composites. The mechanical failure of CNT/ceramic composites reported previously is primarily attributed to poor CNTs-matrix connectivity and severe phase segregation. The connectivity with, and uniform distribution within the matrix are essential structural requirements for the stronger and tougher CNT/ceramic composites. Here we show that a novel processing approach based on the precursor method for synthesis of Al 2 O 3 and acid-treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) can diminish the phase segregation, and render MWCNT/Al 2 O 3 composites highly homogeneous. Combined with mechanical interlock induced by the chemically modified MWCNTs, this approach leads to improved mechanical properties. Direct toughness measurements, using the single edge notched beam method, reveal that only 0.9 vol.% acid-treated MWCNT addition results in 25% increases in fracture toughness (5.90 ± 0.27 MPa•m 1/2).