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The aim of achieving integration of lightweight, high strength, high‐temperature resistant, and satisfactory electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption was successfully accomplished in the present study by synthesizing TiC–TiB2 fibers reinforced Si3N4 composites, which were pressureless sintered at 1650°C for 2 h. The preparation of TiC–TiB2 fibers was conducted through a chloride‐assisted carbothermic method. This work focused on investigating the effects of incorporating TiC–TiB2 fibers on the mechanical properties and EM wave absorption characteristics of the composites. The 30 wt% TiC–TiB2/Si3N4 composite displayed the bulk density of 1.89 g/cm3, bending strength of 93.11 ± 3.91 MPa, fracture toughness of 1.81 ± 0.10 MPa m1/2, minimum reflection loss of −38.87 dB, and effective absorption bandwidth of 1.43 GHz in the Ku‐band, respectively. The as‐synthesized TiC–TiB2/Si3N4 composites are promising candidates for EM wave absorbing load‐bearing materials due to their outstanding mechanical properties and microwave absorption properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with common monoanionic high entropy ceramics, polyanionic high entropy ceramics, with better performance, are more difficult to prepare. Since transition metal carbides have high hardness and transition metal nitrides have good toughness, it is hoped that high entropy carbonitride ceramics can combine the advantages of the two. In this paper, a series of novel (Ti 0.25 Nb 0.25 Hf 0.25 Ta 0.25)C x N 1–x (x = 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.7) high entropy ceramics were successfully synthesized for the first time using spark plasma sintering at 1850 °C with metal carbides and metal nitrides as raw materials. The phase evolution, microstructure, hardness and fracture toughness of high carbonitride entropy ceramics were investigated. X-ray diffraction indicates the ceramics with the single-phase face-centered cubic structure were successfully prepared. It was found that the high entropy ceramics sintered at 1850 °C with four cationic components have excellent performance on fracture toughness (KIC = 7.1746 MPa m1/2). With the increase of carbide proportion, the hardness of the ceramics increased, but the fracture toughness and bending strength decreased slightly. And it was found that the differences of grain size and porosity content were the main reasons for the mechanical properties difference. The excellent hardness properties, good bending strength and outstanding fracture toughness of the high entropy ceramics provide the possibility for the application of high entropy ceramics in aerospace and other applications requiring high performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the lack of a conformal, load-bearing, lightweight, and high-temperature resistant integrated microwave-absorbing composites for applications under extremely complex conditions, this study successfully applies gel casting craft to porous Si 3 N 4 microwave-absorbing composites. The high-temperature decomposition reaction of Ti 3 SiC 2 powder was utilized to generate uniform Ti-C x -N 1−x grains in situ and to enhance the mechanical and microwave-absorption properties of porous Ti-C x -N 1−x /Si 3 N 4 composites. The bending strength, fracture toughness, density, maximum reflection loss value, absorption bandwidth and matched thickness in P-band of the composite with 30 wt% Ti 3 SiC 2 addition were 164.87 ± 7.56 MPa, 2.61 ± 0.13 MPa·m1/2, 2.077 g/cm3, 32.42 dB, 1.74 GHz and 4.2 mm, respectively. The fracture toughness and bending strength of the composite were increased by 71.71% and 58.13%, respectively, compared with monolithic porous Si 3 N 4. The electromagnetic wave loss mechanisms of the composites are proposed as a combination of conductivity loss, multiple reflections and scattering, interfacial polarization and defect polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs)/aluminum nitride (AlN) composites were prepared by hot press sintering at 1600°C. The microstructure, mechanical properties, and thermal conductivity of the samples were measured, and the effect of adding BNNSs to AlN ceramics on the properties was studied. It is found that the addition of BNNSs can effectively improve the mechanical properties of AlN. When the additional amount is 1 wt%, the bending strength of the sample reaches the maximum value of 456.6 MPa, which is 23.1% higher than that of the AlN sample without BNNSs. The fracture toughness of the sample is 4.47 MPa m1/2, a 68.7% improvement over the sample without BNNSs. The composites obtained in the experiment have brilliant mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silica is one of the most widely used ceramics due to its excellent chemical stability and dielectric property. However, its destructive brittle nature inhabits it from wider application as a functional ceramic. An improvement in toughness is a challenging topic for silica ceramic, as well as other ceramics. In the paper, silica ceramic with different types of boron nitride powders and alumina platelets was fabricated by hot-pressing. Introduction of the additives had great influence on the composites' mechanical properties and microstructure. The silica matrix composite containing micro-sized boron nitride powders possessed the best mechanical properties, including the bending strength (134.5 MPa) and the fracture toughness (1.85 Mpa·m1/2). Meanwhile, the introduction of alumina platelets combined with boron nitride nanosheets achieved an effective enhancement of fracture toughness while maintaining the bending strength. Compared with the monolithic silica, the composite with simultaneous addition of alumina platelets and boron nitride nanosheets had a fracture toughness of 2.23 Mpa·m1/2, increased by approximately 27% (1.75 Mpa·m1/2). The crack deflection and platelet pullout were contributing to enhancement of the fracture toughness. The improved mechanical properties, combined with the intrinsic excellent dielectric and chemical properties, make the silica matrix composites promising wave transparent and thermal protection materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alumina is one of the most commonly used and researched structural ceramic because of its excellent properties. However, its intrinsic brittleness is the fatal drawback, which hinders it from wider applications. How to improve its fracture toughness as well as the bending strength is always challenging for material researchers. In this paper, alumina matrix composites were fabricated by hot-pressing, in which some additives, including zirconia, alumina platelets, and MXene, were incorporated. The influence of the introduced additives on their microstructure and mechanical properties was investigated. Compare with the monolithic alumina, both bending strength and fracture toughness of all samples were improved greatly. Incorporation of zirconia was beneficial to the mechanical properties due to the phase-transformation strengthening and toughening mechanism. While alumina platelets resulted in high fracture toughness because of the self-toughening of elongated grains. The synergistic effect of alumina platelets and MXene enormously improved the fracture toughness from 2.9 ± 0.3 MPa·m1/2 for monolithic alumina to 7.5 ± 0.4 MPa·m1/2 for the composite, which was increased by 159%. This work will provide useful references for the fabrication of high-strength and high-toughness alumina ceramics by introducing additives properly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fracture toughness and oxidation resistance are crucial factors affecting the practical applications of high-entropy diboride ceramics (HEBs). In this study, silicon carbide whiskers (SiC w) were introduced as a reinforcement for HEBs for the first time. To achieve a uniform dispersion of SiC w within the HEB powders, a combination of simultaneous ultrasonic dispersion, mechanical agitation, and freeze-drying technology was employed. Consequently, a series of composites, (Hf 0.2 Zr 0.2 Ta 0.2 V 0.2 Nb 0.2)B 2 -nSiC w (n = 0–20 vol%), were densified by spark plasma sintering. The effect of SiC w on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the HEBs were studied, as well as the toughening mechanism involved. The results revealed that the introduction of SiC w led to grain-size refinement in (Hf 0.2 Zr 0.2 Ta 0.2 V 0.2 Nb 0.2)B 2 , along with significant improvements in relative density, hardness, fracture toughness, and oxidation resistance. The relative density, hardness and fracture-toughness of (Hf 0.2 Zr 0.2 Ta 0.2 V 0.2 Nb 0.2)B 2 -SiC w composites exhibited an initial increase followed by a decrease with increasing SiC w content. Specifically, the (Hf 0.2 Zr 0.2 Ta 0.2 V 0.2 Nb 0.2)B 2 –15 vol% SiC w composite simultaneously obtained the highest hardness of 25.6 GPa and fracture-toughness of 4.8 MPa·m1/2, representing a 26% improvement compared to (Hf 0.2 Zr 0.2 Ta 0.2 V 0.2 Nb 0.2)B 2 ceramics. • The effect of SiC w on microstructure, mechanical properties and oxidation resistance of HEBs were studied for the first time. • The K Ic of (Hf 0.2 Zr 0.2 Ta 0.2 V 0.2 Nb 0.2)B 2 ceramic was increased by 26% without loss of hardness by introducing SiC w. • The oxidation resistance of HEBs was greatly enhanced due to the addition of SiC whiskers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to deal with the brittleness of ceramic materials is always one of the hot topics in the field of materials science. Design of layered ceramics with textured structure is one of the effective methods to improve their fracture toughness. The introduction of additives as interlayer phases can balance fracture toughness and flexural strength. However, the research about addition of interlayer phases and their mechanisms in the layered ceramics is still limited. In this work, nacre-like alumina ceramics were successfully fabricated by freeze casting followed by hot pressing. Silicon nitride was incorporated as the interlayer phase, and the effect on the mechanical properties of the nacre-like alumina was investigated. The addition of silicon nitride was beneficial to improvement of interlayer bonding between the alumina layers due to formation of sialon phase, leading to increase of flexural strength but decease of fracture toughness. When the content of silicon nitride was 3.3 wt%, flexural strength and fracture toughness of the sample was 468 MPa and 6.2 MPa m1/2, respectively. Compared with the sample without silicon nitride, the flexural strength was enhanced significantly. Additionally, both flexural strength and fracture toughness were improved as compared the sample without any additives. This work can provide available references for design and fabrication of high-strength and high-toughness ceramics by properly tuning the layer structure and interlayer phase composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microstructure and mechanical properties of (Hf 0.2 Nb 0.2 Ta 0.2 Ti 0.2 Zr 0.2)B 2 high-entropy boride (HEB) were first predicted by first-principles calculations combined with virtual crystal approximation (VCA). The results verified the suitability of VCA scheme in HEB studying. Besides, single-phase (Hf 0.2 Nb 0.2 Ta 0.2 Ti 0.2 Zr 0.2)B 2 ceramics were successfully fabricated using boro/carbothermal reduction (BCTR) method and subsequent spark plasma sintering (SPS); furthermore, the effects of different amounts of B 4 C on microstructure and mechanical properties were evaluated. Due to the addition of B 4 C and C, all samples formed single-phase solid solutions after SPS. When the excess amount of B 4 C increased to 5 wt%, the sample with fine grains exhibited superior comprehensive properties with the hardness of 18.1 ± 1.0 GPa, flexural strength of 376 ± 25 MPa, and fracture toughness of 4.70 ± 0.27 MPa m1/2. Nonetheless, 10 wt% excess of B 4 C coarsened the grains and decreased the strength of the ceramic. Moreover, the nanohardness (34.5–36.9 GPa) and Young's modulus (519–571 GPa) values with different B 4 C contents just showed a slight difference and were within ranges commonly observed in high-entropy diboride ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, Zn 8 B 3 H 3 O 14 nanosheets were synthesized through a one-step coprecipitation process and employed as both a boron source and substrate templates for the fabrication of boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs), which were synthesized efficiently at low temperatures by the borate nitration method using ammonia as the nitrogen source. The thickness of the synthesized BNNSs ranged from 3 to 10 nm with a flake dimension of about 2.56 μm. The prepared BNNSs using this method realized 98.8% boron source utilization and single batch yields up to gram level. In addition, BNNSs/SiO 2 microwave-transparent composites were prepared to investigate the potential for large-scale applications of the BNNSs produced by using this method. The composites demonstrated a remarkable increase in bending strength and fracture toughness, reaching 122.02 MPa and 2.31 MPa·m1/2, respectively, with the addition of only 0.5 wt% BNNSs. Compared with SiO 2 without BNNSs, the fracture toughness of the composites is increased by 106%. A novel crack plugging strong toughening mechanism of BNNSs is proposed. Simultaneously, the composites exhibit exceptional microwave-transparent properties, with dielectric constants below 4 in the real part and below 0.03 in the imaginary part. Therefore, this study has successfully achieved the low-temperature and efficient synthesis of micron-scale BNNSs, laying the groundwork for their large-scale application. [Display omitted] • Zn 8 B 3 H 3 O 14 nanosheets were used as substrate templates for the synthesis of BNNSs. • BNNSs were synthesized with high efficiency at low temperatures (900 °C). • The single batch yield of BNNSs reached up to the gram level. • The BNNSs/SiO 2 wave-transparent composites with ultrahigh toughness were obtained. • A novel mechanism for strengthening and toughening (BNNSs plugging) is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synergic effect of graphene oxide (GO) and silicon nitride whisker (Si 3 N 4 w) on the mechanical properties of nacre-like alumina was investigated in this study. A comprehensive analysis on the composites, including microstructure, relative densities, flexural strength and fracture toughness, was carried out. The experimental results showed that, GO promoted the fracture toughness of the composites, but reduced the flexural strength slightly; while adding a certain amount of Si 3 N 4 w improved both flexural strength and fracture toughness. With the incorporation of GO and Si 3 N 4 w, the highest flexural strength reached 520 MPa and the fracture toughness reached 9.59 MPa m1/2. Microstructure observation revealed that the enhanced mechanical properties were ascribed to the synergistic toughening mechanisms induced by the nacre-like structure of alumina, GO pull-out, Si 3 N 4 w pinning and pull-out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]