Ceramic-metal nanocomposites - microstructure and properties

Anna Świderska-Środa*, Stanisław Gierlotka*, Ewa Grzanka*, Grzegorz Kalisz*, Svetlana Stelmakh*, Bogdan F. Pałosz*, Evgeny Ekimov**, Nathalie Herlin-Boime*** *Instytut Wysokich Ciśnień PAN, ul. Sokołowska 29/37, 01-142 Warszawa, Poland **Institute for High Pressure Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142092 Troick, Russia ***Service des Photons, Atomes et Molecules, URA CEA-CNRS 2453, Saclay, Bat. 522, 91911 Gif/Yvette Cedex, France

Quarterly No. 2, 2007 pages 61-65

DOI:

keywords: nanocomposites, infiltration, high pressure

article version pdf (1.07MB)

abstract The high-pressure zone infiltration of the nanocrystallite powders of diamond and SiC was used to obtain nanocomposites. The processes were carried out in toroidal cell under pressure up to 8 GPa at temperature up to 2000oC. We used powders with crystallite size 560 nm and particle size from several nanometers to micrometers. We used the infiltration method to obtain nanocomposites with metals Zn, Al. The experiments indicated that the powder morphology was the dominant factor for effi-ciency of the infiltration process. The powders with particle size smaller than several nanometers were infiltrated only when they possessed a fractal-type structure. The obtained nanocomposites show a homogenous microstructure, both in nano- and micro-dimension ranges. Mechanical properties of the obtained nanocomposites depend both on powder morphology and process conditions. Their microhardness varied in range of 330 GPa for diamond matrices and 621 GPa for SiC matrices.