Physical and mechanical properties of highly textured polycrystalline Nb4AlC3 ceramic

Chunfeng Hu; Yoshio Sakka; Toshiyuki Nishimura; Shuqi Guo; Salvatore Grasso; Hidehiko Tanaka

doi:10.1088/1468-6996/12/4/044603

Physical and mechanical properties of highly textured polycrystalline Nb₄AlC₃ ceramic

Sci Technol Adv Mater. 2011 Jul 7;12(4):044603. doi: 10.1088/1468-6996/12/4/044603. eCollection 2011 Aug.

Authors

Chunfeng Hu¹, Yoshio Sakka², Toshiyuki Nishimura³, Shuqi Guo⁴, Salvatore Grasso⁵, Hidehiko Tanaka⁶

Affiliations

¹ World Premier International Research Center (WPI) Initiative on Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan; Nano Ceramics Center, NIMS, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan.
² World Premier International Research Center (WPI) Initiative on Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan; Nano Ceramics Center, NIMS, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan; Nano Ceramics Center, NIMS, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan.
³ Nano Ceramics Center, NIMS, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan.
⁴ Hybrid Materials Center, NIMS, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan.
⁵ Nano Ceramics Center, NIMS, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan; Graduate School of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571, Japan.
⁶ World Premier International Research Center (WPI) Initiative on Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan.

Abstract

Highly textured polycrystalline Nb₄AlC₃ ceramic was fabricated by slip casting in a strong magnetic field followed by spark plasma sintering. Its Lotgering orientation factor was determined on the textured top and side surfaces as f_(00l) ∼1.0 and f_(hk0)=0.36, respectively. This ceramic showed layered microstructure at the scales ranging from nanometers to millimeters. The as-prepared ceramic had excellent anisotropic physical properties. Along the c-axis direction, it showed higher hardness, bending strength, and fracture toughness of 7.0 GPa, 881 MPa and 14.1 MPa m^1/2, respectively, whereas higher values of electrical conductivity (0.81×10⁶ Ω^-1 m^-1), thermal conductivity (21.20 W m^-1 K^-1) and Young's modulus (365 GPa) were obtained along the a- or b-axis direction.

Keywords: carbide; mechanical properties; nanolayered microstructure; physical properties; texture.