Analysis of Size Dependence of Ceramic Fiber and Whisker Strength

The strengths of ceramic fibers and whiskers have been observed to increase with decreasing fiber diameter and length. Typically, both surface flaws and volume flaws exist in ceramic fibers and whiskers, which makes it impossible to characterize the strength dependence of both the diameter and the length with a single-modal Weibull distribution function. Our data also show that the single-modal Weibull distribution is inadequate to characterize the strength of fibers with varying diameters even in the case of a constant fiber length. In addition, experimental data also show that, for sapphire whiskers whose surface flaws were removed by chemical polishing, the whisker strength has a much stronger size dependence on diameter than predicted by the single-modal Weibull function, which indicates that factors other than those characterized by the Weibull function also play a role in the strength of sapphire whiskers. In this paper, the factors affecting the strengths of ceramic fibers and whiskers are analyzed in terms of Weibull statistics, fracture mechanics, and flaw size density variation with varying fiber diameters. A three-parameter modified Weibull distribution, which combines the above strength-affecting factors, is proposed to characterize both the diameter and the length dependence for ceramic fibers and whiskers with or without surface flaws. Characterization of the strength data of sapphire whiskers and Nicalon SiC fibers with varying diameters shows the validity of the modified Weibull distribution function.     

Evaluation of solid wastes in the manufacture of ceramic tableware glazes

The recovery and reuse of industrial wastes are of great importance to the environment. Today, a large amount of waste is produced due to marble production, and it is extremely important to bring such wastes to the ceramic industry, to solve the pollution problem and to provide cost-efficient ceramic production. In this study, marble waste was used for ceramic earthenware glaze and body formulations. Marble waste was used in two different formulations as glaze and body. Chemical analysis, morphological features, crystallographic information of different formulations were made with XRF, SEM and XRD, respectively. When the hardness test results of the ceramic body and glazed samples were examined, the hardness values of the marble waste added samples increased by 1.9% compared to the standard samples. According to the results obtained, it has been seen that using marble waste in the ceramic industry is very important for both economic and environmental reasons.     

Fractography of zirconia-specimens made using additive manufacturing (LCM) technology

A relatively new method to manufacture complex ceramic prototypes and components is additive manufacturing (AM). With the LCM (Lithography-based Ceramic Manufacturing)-technology the green body is manufactured layer-by-layer using selective curing of light-sensitive ceramic slurry by a mask exposure process. After curing by blue light the component is removed from the building platform and the green body is sintered to a ceramic component.The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of processing and layer architecture on the mechanical properties of an Yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramic. Strength tests were performed by uniaxial bending tests and by biaxial Ball-on-three Balls (B3B) tests. To identify typical fracture initiating flaws a systematic fractographic investigation was performed on different batches of Ball-on-three Balls-test and bending test specimens, respectively.Through additional investigations it was found that hardness and fracture toughness were independent on the layer architecture. But an extensive fractographic analysis showed that the strength was limited by flaws, which were introduced by processing and handling. If these flaws can be avoided by optimisation of the process the strength should be equal to that of conventional processed ceramics.     

Strength and Its Variability in Ceramics with Particular Reference to Alumina

Research was conducted to measure the strength and its variability in polycrystalline alumina with a wide variety of high-density arrays of flaws. The flaw arrays were produced by grit-blasting the surface, processing samples with small (10 μm diameter) and large (100 μm diameter) closed pores, underfiring samples to give interconnected grain-boundary pores, and fabricating microcracked Al₂O₃-ZrO₂ composites. Although details of the failure process can be complicated, strength was controlled in all cases by either the stress to propagate a large flaw or the stress to cause linking of smaller flaws. Strength variability was correspondingly due to either the distribution of critical flaws or the variability in the spatial array of flaws. Fracture mechanics principles can be applied in understanding these results although in many cases a unique solution is not possible because of the nonidealized flaw structure in ceramics. Because of the difficulty in controlling the detailed microstructure of ceramics during fabrication, the attainment of uniform ceramic strengths is an extremely difficult goal.     

单通道陶瓷膜管低压透水性能实验分析

无机陶瓷膜作为多孔介质具有分离效率高、耐酸、耐碱等优点,被视为在海水淡化、废水处理、气体分离等领域的研究热点。采用Al₂O₃管式单通道陶瓷膜材料构建膜组件,以燃煤电厂自来水、烟气冷凝水、脱硫废水三种不同水质为例,开展低跨膜压差下的膜组件透水性能实验,研究了膜参数、跨膜压差及水体温度等因素对渗透通量、渗透水质的影响,并对引发膜污染的机理过程进行了探讨分析。实验结果表明：陶瓷膜管的结构参数是关键因素,如孔隙率、孔径及厚度等;低跨膜压差下的渗透通量随压力增大呈线性提高,并未发现浓差极化现象,水体温度变化通过改变黏度进而影响渗透通量,同时水质较差时会导致渗透通量降低;陶瓷膜管的孔径是影响渗透水质的核心要素,微滤与纳滤膜对改善悬浮物含量、浊度及色度效果明显,不同孔径对盐度、电导率影响不同;从SEM图可以看出,污染物在膜表面或膜内部发生的沉积、架桥等现象导致严重的膜污染。充分认识影响陶瓷膜管渗透特性的关键因素及污染物的作用机理,对提高无机陶瓷膜的应用前景具有重要意义。     

纳米SiC-Al_2O_3/TiC多相陶瓷复合材料显微结构的研究

考察了纳米SiC -Al2 O3/TiC多相陶瓷复合材料的断裂方式 .由于纳米SiC的加入 ,材料以穿晶断裂为主 .通过透射电镜观察 ,研究了纳米陶瓷复合材料中纳米SiC的分布 ,证明所制备的材料主要为晶内型纳米复合陶瓷 .在纳米SiC -Al2 O3/TiC多相陶瓷复合材料中 ,少量纳米SiC位于基体晶粒间 ,大多数纳米SiC位于基体晶粒内 ,而且纳米SiC的加入细化了基体的晶粒 .通过高分辨透射电镜观察 ,研究了纳米SiC -Al2 O3/TiC多相陶瓷复合材料中 ,纳米SiC与基体间界面结合状态 ,发现在两颗粒间的晶界几乎没有玻璃相 ,证明纳米陶瓷复合材料中晶界得到了加强 ,有利于材料力学性能的提高 .另外研究了裂纹在材料中的扩展行为 ,结果表明 ,纳米粒子对裂纹的扩展起到偏折和钉扎作用     

土壤中铅的简易分析方法与分布特征研究

文章研究了利用便携式荧光X线分析仪测量土壤中铅的简易分析方法,评价了测量铅的简易分析方法与国家标准分析方法之间的相关性,分析了其相关性随土壤颗粒的粒径和污染物的浓度而发生变化特征(相关系数0.91～0.98),确认了简易分析方法在土壤污染治理和现场污染调查中的适用性。同时,为了提高污染土壤的修复工作效率,考察了不同粒径土壤颗粒样品中的铅污染物分布特征,分析了其污染物在小粒径土壤颗粒中高浓度的特征。     

Strength of Tape Cast and Laminated Ceramics

Monolithic A1₂O₃ ceramic laminates were fabricated via a tape casting process. The strength of single tapes was compared with that of laminates, using biaxial flexure tests. The fracture stress was similar. However, the laminates presented a lower Weibull modulus. The feasibility of eliminating or diminishing void-type flaws present in the green tapes was also assessed. To this end, tapes were first punctured, then laminated and sintered, and the effect of these known flaws in the final ceramic was assessed in four-point flexure tests. The thermocompression of green tapes during laminate fabrication was found to modify the flaws to a more forgiving morphology.     

Graphene or carbon nanofiber-reinforced zirconia composites: Are they really worthwhile for structural applications?

The use of allotropic phases of carbon (i.e. nanotubes, graphene or carbon nanofibers) as second phases to design ceramic composites is a hot topic at present. Researchers try to provide a remarkable improvement of the parent ceramic assuming that some of the outstanding mechanical properties of these phases migrate to the resultant composite. This reasonable idea has been questioned severely in the case of nanotubes addition but there is not any analysis for the other two phases cited previously. To elucidate this question, zirconia was selected as a model ceramic. This paper reports the mechanical properties of zirconia composites reinforced either with graphene or carbon nanofibers, with special emphasis on the high-temperature plasticity.     

Immobilization of solidified ceramic forms with magnesium phosphate cement

Ceramic solidification offers higher waste loading and a more stable state than can be provided by the glass solidification method because of the stable crystalline structure of its forms, but the process of fabricating large bulk solidified ceramic forms is complicated and therefore limited in application. In this paper, particulate ceramic solidification forms were first prepared by using high-temperature sintering; particulate ceramic solidification forms were then added into a paste of magnesium phosphate cement (MPC), which form composite solidified forms after curing. The mechanical and durability properties of the samples were investigated, and the phases, microstructure, high-temperature stability, and leaching properties of samples were measured by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results show that the solidified forms prepared have excellent mechanical properties, high-temperature stability, soaking resistance, and freeze–thaw resistance. The compressive strength of samples decreased with increasing ceramic content, with the strength reaching 27.8 MPa with a 50 wt% load content of ceramic. With adsorption of the simulated nuclides by the hydration products of cement and the retardation effect of MPC, the leaching rate of the simulated nucleus was found to be 1.86 × 10⁻⁷ cm/day, which is less than that of the ceramic solidified form. A protective layer on the surface of the solidified ceramic form with MPC can further improve the performance of the solidified form.     

Slip casting of nanozirconia/MWCNT composites using a heterocoagulation process

The addition of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is expected to increase the fracture toughness of ceramic matrix composites, but an uniform dispersion of the nanotubes in the matrix is essential. This is a complex issue in aqueous medium because of the nanotubes hydrophobicity. In this work, the stability and rheological behaviour of nanozirconia concentrated suspensions, from 20 to 33 vol% solids, with and without multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was optimised in order to obtain homogeneous green samples by slip casting. The manufacture of nanozirconia/MWCNTs composites was performed using a heterocoagulation process in which the CNTs were homogeneously coated by the ceramic particles through strong electrostatic attractive forces between the two phases and further consolidation by a slip casting route. After sintering, the effect of the MWCNT on the hardness and fracture toughness of the nanostructured zirconia samples was evaluated.     

Fabrication and characterisation of boron doped barium stabilised bismuth cobalt oxide nanocrystalline ceramic composite

Abstract

In this paper, the fabrication and characterisation processes of both boron doped and undoped barium stabilised bismuth cobalt oxide nanocrystalline ceramic powders using polymeric precursor were reported. Obtained boron doped barium stabilised bismuth cobalt oxide nanocrystalline ceramic powders, which have been synthesised by polymeric precursor technique at temperatures below 900°C and at atmospheric condition, were characterised by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared and scanning electron microscopy techniques. According to X-ray results, fcc and bcc phases coexist in the samples of the nanocrystalline ceramic powders. Crystallite sizes for body centred cubic structure were calculated using Scherrer equation for both boron doped and undoped samples. In addition, lattice parameters were calculated for all samples.     

Preparation and characterization of ceramic nanofiltration membrane prepared from hazardous industrial waste

Kiln rollers, which are widely used in ceramic tiles production, are usually subjected to surface grinding to remove the contaminations. The resulted fine powder is considered useless waste and a hazardous source of environmental pollution particularly as it contains health-threatening fine free silica. In the present paper, the grind waste from kiln rollers was reused as raw material in the fabrication of nanofiltration ceramic membrane. The samples of produced ceramic membranes were formed into disks by adding 15% (by weight) organic binder solution with 2% concentration, then pressed at 35 MPa, dried and fired at temperatures range from 1100°C to 1300°C for 1 hour soaking time. It was found that the best firing temperature to produce nanofiltration ceramic membrane is 1250°C, where the ceramic membrane provides high removal of turbidity and high monovalent, divalent, and trivalent salts separation percentage.     

Investigation of a high stable β-cristobalite ceramic powder from CaO–Al2O3–SiO2 system

The room temperature stabilized β-cristobalite ceramic powder has great potential for use in production of engineering ceramic materials due to its high resistance to thermal shock, low expansion coefficient, high chemical resistance and low density. However, the use of this material is not common in ceramic industries. The problem is shown to be the instability of β-phase during milling. The applied external force leads to phase transformation to α-cristobalite and thus the material shows poor thermal stability and so on. In this study, a reliable β-cristobalite ceramic powder from CaO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂ ternary system was investigated at different compositions and under various sintering temperatures and sintering times. The phase stability of the powder sample was investigated by milling for 50 h using a planetary mill. The crystalline phases were examined by X-ray and FTIR analysis and the results were discussed with respect to the phase homogeneity through the particle mass.     

Preparing Low-Loss Low-Temperature Cofired Ceramic Material without Glass Addition

A low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) composition for radio-frequency purposes was accomplished without prior glass preparation. In this process, the formulation was made by mixing the glass-forming oxides (ZnO, SiO₂, and B₂O₃) with the commercial microwave ceramic MgTiO₃–CaTiO₃. The sintering, microstructure, and microwave properties were compared to a formulation with exactly the same composition, but a conventional production route, including glass preparation. The novel preparation route resulted in improved firing properties of the mixture. Also, the densities, porosities, and phases of the samples were almost the same as those of the conventional samples, but the phase fractions were different. Finally, this preparation route produced better dielectric values.     

Evaluation of Silicon-Nitride Ceramic Valves

Silicon-nitride ceramic valves can improve the performance of both light- and heavy-duty automotive engines because of the superior material properties of silicon nitrides over current metal alloys. However, ceramics are brittle materials that may introduce uncertainties in the reliability and durability of ceramic valves. As a result, the lifetime of ceramic valves are difficult to predict theoretically due to wide variations in the type and distribution of microstructural flaws in the material. Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods are therefore required to assess the quality and reliability of these valves. Because ceramic materials are optically translucent and the strength-limiting flaws are normally located near the valve surface, a laser-scatter method can be used for NDE evaluation of ceramic valves. This paper reviews the progress in the development of this NDE method and its application to inspect silicon-nitride ceramic valves at various stages of manufacturing and bench and engine tests.     

Properties of 0–3 Lead Zirconate Titanate–Polymer Composites Prepared in a Centrifuge

The purpose of this work was to present the electrical and piezoelectric properties of the 0-3 piezoceramic–polymer composites prepared by spinning the lead zirconate titanate (PZT) powders with polyester resin in a centrifuge. PZT powders with average sizes of 55 and 160 μm were used and mixed in the resin with different volumetric percentages. The dielectric and piezoelectric properties such as permittivity, loss angle, electromechanical coupling factor, and piezoelectric coefficient were measured. The mechanical quality factor was calculated. The acoustic impedance was accessed by the echo-shift method. The results were analyzed and fit to mechanical models. Distribution of the ceramic particles in the polyester-resin phase was examined by scanning electron microscopy. Smaller-ceramic-particle composites seemed to form denser samples. Most of the properties showed linearly varying as the volumetric percentage of the ceramic phase. The fabrication using the centrifuging techniques resulted in more homogeneity of the ceramic and polymer phases, and the fabricated samples could be loaded up to 65% or more with the ceramic powders.     

Manufacturing of nano mullite-silicon carbide filters by in situ reaction bonding

In the present study, the effect of silica nanoparticles on the formation of nano-mullite phase for use in the manufacture of silicon carbide based ceramic foam filters has been investigated. Polyurethane foam filters were impregnated with nanosilica particles by slip casting. In this method, the effect of different percentages of nanosilica particles in the slurry on compressive strength, density and porosity of ceramic foam filters was investigated. The effect of silica nanoparticles on viscosity of slurry was studied using rheometric test. So, sample S₁₅ was selected to proceed. For thermal treatment of ceramic foams, different sintering temperatures were investigated and the best temperature was reported at 1250 °C. Compressive strength results showed that with increasing nano-silica content, CCS increased. XRD results from the samples showed that the nano-mullite phase was formed at 1250 °C along with silicon carbide and alumina phases. Scanning electron microscope images (SEM) showed that the mullite phase was formed in nano-dimensions in ceramic foam bodies. The formation of mullite phase in the microstructure of the filters is one of the factors of strengthening and increased refractory characteristics. EDS analysis by the scanning electron microscopy of the filter which passed ductile iron melt showed that cast iron inclusions and impurities were mostly consisted from FeO, MnO, SiO₂, Al₂O₃, MgO and CO, which were trapped inside the ceramic filter.     

Acoustic emission monitoring of uniaxial pressing of ceramic powders

Powder compaction is a critical step in a classical method for the production of zero-defect ceramic products. We have studied the development of this step to determine whether acoustic emission can be used to detect the presence of flaws in a compact. In uniaxial pressing at room temperature, the creation and extension of flaws occur principally during the ejection of the compacts. The type and extent of flaws depend on the mechanical properties of the powder used and on the pressing conditions. Acoustic emission was used to monitor the consolidation by uniaxial pressing of Al₂O₃ powders and a UO₂---PuO₂ powder. It was possible to detect flaws in the compacts, to determine their type for a given powder, and to identify the type of powder used by a direct examination of cumulative counts of acoustic emission events and by a statistical analysis of amplitude distributions. Hence, the introduction of this technique in a fabrication process offers the possibility of detecting the presence of defects in compacts as soon as they are created. This would decrease the difficulties involved in reuse in the process of the powder from defective products, and would limit further flaw development during sintering, which are two major problems in the nuclear industry.     

复相陶瓷材料的设计原则

根据陶瓷材料在使用上的性能要求，设计和确定材料的组成、显微结构和工艺，是陶瓷材料研究的进步。陶瓷材料向多相方向发展，为陶瓷材料的晚思考余地。本文阐述了复相陶瓷瓣设计原则，显微结构的设计，不同相之间的化学共存，不同相之间的物理匹配。