Mechanical Properties of Boron Carbide/Reduced-graphene-oxide Composites Ceramics

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) enhanced B₄C ceramics was prepared by SPS sintering, the enhancement effect of rGO on the microstructure and mechanical properties of composites was studied through experiments and numerical simulation. The results show that the composite with 2wt% rGO has the best comprehensive mechanical properties. Compared with pure boron carbide, vickers hardness and bending strength are increased by 4.8% and 21.96%, respectively. The fracture toughness is improved by 25.71%. The microstructure observation shows that the improvement of mechanical properties is mainly attributed to the pull-out and bridge mechanism of rGO and the crack deflection. Based on the cohesive force finite element method, the dynamic crack growth process of composites was simulated. The energy dissipation of B₄C/rGO multiphase ceramics during crack propagation was calculated and compared with that of pure boron carbide ceramics. The results show that the fracture energy dissipation can be effectively increased by adding graphene.

Keywords

boron carbide matrix composites / graphene oxide / mechanical property / cohesive finite element method

References

[1] Levin L, Frage N, Dariel MP. A Novel Approach for the Preparation of B₄C-based Ceramics[J]. International Journal of Refractory Metals & Hard Materials, 2000, 18(2–3): 131-135.

[2] Roy TK, Subramanian C, Suri AK. Pressureless Sintering of Boron Carbide[J]. Ceramics International, 2006, 32(3): 227-233.

[3] Suri AK, Subramanian C, Sonber JK, et al. Synthesis and Consolidation of Boron Carbide: A Review[J]. International Materials Reviews, 2010, 55(1): 4-40.

[4] Lee WE, Gilbert M, Murphy ST, et al. Opportunities for Advanced Ceramics and Composites in the Nuclear Sector[J]. Am. Ceram. Soc., 2013, 58(96): 2 005-2 030.

[5] Jung CH, Kim C. Sintering and Characterization of Al₂O₃-B₄C Composites[J]. Journal of Materials Science, 1991, 26(18): 5 037-5 040.

[6] Kobayashi T, Yoshida K, Yano T. Fabrication of Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Boron Carbide Composite by Hot-pressing Following Extrusion Molding[J]. Key Engineering Materials, 2014, 616: 27-31.

[7] Geim AK, Novoselov KS. The Rise of Graphene[J]. Nature Materials, 2007, 6(22): 52-65.

[8] Balandin Alexander A. Thermal Properties of Graphene and Nanostructured Carbon Materials[J]. Nature Materials, 2011, 10(8): 569

[9] Porwal H, Grasso S, Reece MJ. Review of Graphene-ceramic Matrix Composites[J]. Advances in Applied Ceramics, 2015, 112(8): 443-454.

[10] Yun C, Feng YB, Qiu T, et al. Mechanical, Electrical, and Thermal Properties of Graphene Nanosheet/Aluminum Nitride Composites[J]. Ceramics International, 2015, 41(7): 8 643-8 649.

[11] Ahmad I, Islam M, Abdo HS, et al. Toughening Mechanisms and Mechanical Properties of Graphene Nanosheet-reinforced Alumina[J]. Materials & Design, 2015, 88(25): 1 234-1 243.

[12] Tan Y, Zhang H, Peng S. Electrically Conductive Graphene Nanoplatelet/Boron Carbide Composites with High Hardness and Toughness[J]. Scripta Materialia, 2016, 114: 98-102.

[13] Richard Sedlák Alexandra, et al. Boron Carbide/Graphene Platelet Ceramics with Improved Fracture Toughness and Electrical Conductivity[J]. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 2017, 37(12): 3 773-3 780.

[14] Rajath A, Ch MTSR, Vasanthakumar K, et al. In-situ Synthesis and Densification of Boron Carbide and Boron Carbide-graphene Nanoplatelet Composite by Reactive Spark Plasma Sintering[J]. Ceramics International, 2018, 44(17): 522-550.

[15] Kovalíková A, Sedlák R, Rutkowski P, et al. Mechanical Properties of Boron Carbide+Graphene Platelet Composites[J]. Ceramics International, 2015, 42(1): 2 094-2 098.

[16] Tan Y, Zhang H, Peng S. Electrically Conductive Graphene Nanoplatelet/Boron Carbide Composites with High Hardness and Toughness[J]. Scripta Materialia, 2016, 114(2016): 98-102.

[17] Zya B, Jya B, Mca B, et al. Mechanical Property and Ballistic Resistance of Graphene Platelets/B₄C Ceramic Armor Prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering — ScienceDirect[J]. Ceramics International, 2019, 45(17): 23 781-23 787.

[18] Sheinerman AG, Morozov NF, Gutkin MY. Effect of Grain Boundary Sliding on Fracture Toughness of Ceramic/Graphene Composites[J]. Mechanics of Materials, 2019, 137: 103-126.

[19] Fonseca GM, Barros FB, Oliveira T, et al. 2-D Crack Propagation Analysis Using Stable Generalized Finite Element Method with Global-local Enrichments[J]. Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, 2020, 118(2020): 70-83.

[20] Zhang Y, Xiao G, Xu C, et al. Cohesive Element Model for Fracture Behavior Analysis of Al₂O₃/Graphene Composite Ceramic Tool Material[J]. Crystals, 2019, 9(12): 669

[21] Zhou T, Huang C, Liu H, et al. Crack Propagation Simulation in Microstructure of Ceramic Tool Materials[J]. Computational Materials Science, 2012, 54: 150-156.

[22] Dong L, Yang J, Chhowalla M, et al. Synthesis and Reduction of Large Sized Graphene Oxide Sheets[J]. Chemical Society Reviews, 2017, 46(2017): 1 021-1 039.

[23] Mencik J. Strength and Fracture of Glass and Ceramics[M]. Elsevier, 1992

[24] Zavattieri E. A Grain Level Model for the Study of Failure Initiation and Evolution in Polycrystalline Brittle Materials. Part I: Theory and Numerical Implementation[J]. Mechanics of Materials, 2003, 52(544): 855-865.

[25] Zhang P, Ma L, Fan F, et al. Fracture Toughness of Graphene[J]. Nature Communications, 2014, 5(3728): 9-10.

[26] Aw A, Qh A, Cl A, et al. Enhanced Toughness and Strength of Boron Carbide Ceramics with Reduced Graphene Oxide Fabricated by Hot Pressing-Science Direct[J]. Ceramics International, 2020, 46(17): 26 511-26 520.

[27] Benedetti I, Aliabadi M H. A Three-dimensional Cohesive-frictional Grain-boundary Micromechanical Model for Intergranular Degradation and Failure in Polycrystalline Materials[J]. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2013, 265(9): 36-62.

[28] Alexandr A, Dolbin V. The Effect of the Thermal Reduction Temperature on the Structure and Sorption Capacity of Reduced Graphene Oxide Materials[J]. Applied Surface Science, 2016, 361(JAN.15): 213-220.

[29] Aw A, Qh A, Cl A, et al. Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Boron Carbide/Graphene Nanoplatelets Composites Fabricated by Hot Pressing[J]. Ceramics International, 2020, 46(6): 7879-7887.

[30] Failla S, Melandri C, Zoli L. Hard and Easy Sinterable B4C-TiB2 Based Composites Doped with WC[J]. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 2018, 955(2219): 1 830-1 849.

[31] Richard Sedlák Alexandra, et al. Effect of Graphene Platelets on Tribological Properties of Boron Carbide Ceramic Composites[J]. International Journal of Refractory Metals & Hard Materials, 2017, 588(852): 152-180.

[32] Yavas B, Sahin F, Yucel O, et al. Effect of Particle Size, Heating Rate and CNT Addition on Densification, Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of B₄C Ceramics[J]. Ceramics International, 2015, 41(7): 8 936-8 944.