07.02.2013 Views

Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Composites: Metal and Ceramic ...

Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Composites: Metal and Ceramic ...

Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Composites: Metal and Ceramic ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Table 7.5 Mechanical properties of monolithic Si3N4 <strong>and</strong> Si3N4/1<br />

wt% MWNT nanocomposite spark plasma sintered at different<br />

temperatures.<br />

Materials<br />

7.6<br />

Wear Behavior<br />

Sintering<br />

temperature ( C)<br />

Density<br />

(g cm 3 )<br />

Vickers<br />

hardness<br />

(GPa)<br />

Fracture<br />

toughness<br />

(MPa m 1/2 )<br />

Si3N4 1500 3.23 20.1 0.9 5.2<br />

Si 3N 4 1650 3.24 18.3 0.5 6.5<br />

Si3N4/1 wt% MWNT 1500 3.17 16.6 0.4 5.3<br />

Si 3N 4/1 wt% MWNT 1650 3.19 19.1 0.6 4.4<br />

Reproduced with permission from [Chap. 5, Ref. 120]. Copyright Ó (2005) Elsevier.<br />

7.6 Wear Behaviorj207<br />

Hard <strong>and</strong> superhard ceramic nanocomposite coatings have attracted increasing<br />

attention due to their potential applications in diverse areas such as cutting tools,<br />

bearings, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), magnetic disk drives, <strong>and</strong> so<br />

on. Hard coatings improve the durability of substrate materials in hostile environments<br />

against severe wear, thus prolonging the materials life. Typical ceramic<br />

nanocomposite coatings are composed of nanocrystalline transition metal carbides<br />

embedded in amorphous covalent nitride (e.g., Si3N4, or BN) matrix [26].<br />

Hard nanocomposite coatings are often very brittle, which strongly limits their<br />

practical use. Tough nanocomposite coatings can be realized by embedding solid<br />

lubricant soft phase such as transition metal dichalgonenides (MoS2, WS2, NbSe2,<br />

etc.) in an amorphous ceramic matrix [27] as shown in Figure 7.19(a) <strong>and</strong> (b).<br />

As mentioned before, CNTs also exhibit self-lubrication behavior. In combination<br />

with their other attractive mechanical <strong>and</strong> physical properties, CNTs have consistently<br />

outperformed their transition metal dichalgonenide rivals. <strong>Ceramic</strong>-CNT<br />

nanocomposites have been shown to exhibit low friction coefficient <strong>and</strong> wear rate,<br />

making them useful as wear-resistant materials for structural components in<br />

industrial sectors. In general, the distribution of CNTs in ceramic matrix affects<br />

the wear behavior of ceramic-CNTnanocomposites considerably. Recently, Lim et al.<br />

investigated the effect of CNT dispersion on tribological behavior of the of Al2O3/<br />

MWNT nanocomposites [28]. Two processing routes were adopted to prepare<br />

nanocomposites. The first processing route consisted of ball milling of CNTs <strong>and</strong><br />

alumina powders in ethanol followed by hot pressing at 1850 C. The second route<br />

was ball milling of slurry consisting of a mixture of MWNT, alumina, methyl-isobutyl<br />

ketone, poly(vinyl)butyral <strong>and</strong> dibutyl phthalate. These organic agents acted as<br />

solvent, dispersant, binder <strong>and</strong> plasticizer, respectively. The slurry was poured into<br />

a tape-casting equipment, followed by lamination <strong>and</strong> hot pressing at 1850 C. Tape<br />

casting gives better distribution of CNTs in alumina matrix, resulting in the<br />

formation of dense nanocomposites (Figure 7.20). However, the r.d. of hot-pressed<br />

nanocomposites decreases continuously with increasing nanotube content.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!