Fabrication of (SiC-AlN)/ZrB2 Composite with Nano-Micron Hybrid Microstructure via PCS-Derived Ceramics Route

Aidong Xia; Jie Yin; Xiao Chen; Zhengren Huang; Xuejian Liu; Wei Liu

doi:10.3390/ma14020334

Fabrication of (SiC-AlN)/ZrB₂ Composite with Nano-Micron Hybrid Microstructure via PCS-Derived Ceramics Route

Materials (Basel). 2021 Jan 11;14(2):334. doi: 10.3390/ma14020334.

Authors

Aidong Xia^{1

2}, Jie Yin¹, Xiao Chen^{1

2}, Zhengren Huang^{1

3}, Xuejian Liu¹, Wei Liu^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China.
² College of Materials Science and Opto-Electronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
³ Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China.
⁴ School of Mechatronic Engineering, Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University, Guangzhou 510635, China.
⁵ School of Electromechanical Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.

Abstract

In this work, a (SiC-AlN)/ZrB₂ composite with outstanding mechanical properties was prepared by using polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) and hot-pressing technique. Flexural strength reached up to 460 ± 41 MPa, while AlN and ZrB₂ contents were 10 wt%, and 15 wt%, respectively, under a hot-pressing temperature of 2000 °C. XRD pattern-evidenced SiC generated by pyrolysis of polycarbosilane (PCS) was mainly composed by 2H-SiC and 4H-SiC, both belonging to α-SiC. Micron-level ZrB₂ secondary phase was observed inside the (SiC-AlN)/ZrB₂ composite, while the mean grain size (MGS) of SiC-AlN matrix was approximately 97 nm. This unique nano-micron hybrid microstructure enhanced the mechanical properties. The present investigation provided a feasible tactic for strengthening ceramics from PDCs raw materials.

Keywords: (SiC-AlN)/ZrB2 composite; hot pressing; mechanical properties; nano-micron hybrid microstructure; polymer-derived ceramics.

Abstract

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