Pressureless sintering and tribological properties of WC–ZrO2 composites

In a recent work [Basu, B., Lee, J. H. and Kim, D. Y., Development of WC-ZrO₂ nanocomposites by spark plasma sintering. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 2004 87(2), 317–319], the processing of ultrahard WC–ZrO₂ nanocomposites using spark plasma sintering is reported. In the present work, we investigate the processing and properties of WC–6 wt.% ZrO₂ composites, densified by pressureless sintering route. The densification of the WC–ZrO₂ composites was performed in the temperature range of 1500–1700 °C with varying time (1–3 h) in vacuum. The experimental results indicate that significantly high hardness of 22–23 GPa and moderate fracture toughness of ∼5 MPa m^1/2 can be obtained with 2 mol% Y–stabilized ZrO₂ sinter-additive, sintered at 1600 °C for 3 h. Furthermore, the friction and wear behavior of optimized WC–ZrO₂ composite is investigated on a fretting mode I wear tester. The tribological results reveal that a moderate coefficient of friction in the range from 0.15 to 0.5 can be achieved with the optimised composite. A transition in friction and wear with load is noted. The dominant mechanisms of material removal are tribochemical wear and spalling of tribolayer.     

Synthesis of Single-Crystalline Silicon Nitride Nanobelts Via Catalyst-Assisted Pyrolysis of a Polysilazane

Recently, one-dimensional nanostructures have attracted extensive attention since they are potentially important for both applications and fundamental research. In this paper, we report the synthesis of ultra-long single crystal Si₃N₄ nanobelts via catalyst-assisted pyrolysis of polymeric precursors. The obtained products contain both α- and β-Si₃N₄ nanobelts, which are 50–100 nm in thickness, 400–1000 nm in width, and a few hundreds of micrometers to several millimeters in length. Different from previous techniques for synthesizing one-dimensional structures, the current nanobelts are synthesized through confined crystallization of an amorphous phase. A solid–liquid–gas–solid reaction/crystallization growth mechanism is proposed. The formation of nanobelts instead of nanowires is attributed to the anisotropy growth at an earlier stage.     

Preparation of alkoxides for the synthesis of ceramics

The literature is reviewed to summarize methodologies for synthesizing metal alkoxides applicable as organic precursors to high-purity, well-characterized ceramic powders. Typical examples of preparation techniques, patents, and commercial manufacturing methods are provided, and special precautions noted. Basically, metal alkoxide synthesis is determined by the electronegativity of the metal concerned; synthetic routes may lead directly from the metal or a metal halide, or may be indirect, involving alcoholysis.     

Sclerometric characterization of nearly brittle materials

The abrasion of nearly brittle materials can be considered as a multipoint scratching and indenting process. Knowledge of flow morphologies around the abrasive protuberances, the determination of the energy dissipated during single-contact scratching experiments and the estimation of the forces acting on the abrasive particles are therefore essential for a better understanding of the wear and finishing processes based on abrasion phenomena.Experiments using linear and pendular sclerometers were conducted on various materials such as glass, ceramics, metals and polymers. The results described in the present paper show the effects of the geometry, the speed and the rheology on the abrasive process. The forces induced and the morphologies of the scratches are studied. The behaviour of the abrasive contact is in particular very nicely described by a critical transition from ductile to brittle abrasion which is analysed in detail for soda-lime glass. This transition is itself correlated with the dynamic hardness and the dynamic toughness of the tested materials. The results have a bearing on the prediction of the behaviour of nearly brittle materials when used as bulk materials or surface coatings in tribological applications dealing with abrasive wear.     

A Bubble‐Derived Strategy to Prepare Multiple Graphene‐Based Porous Materials

Graphene‐based porous structures have triggered tremendous attention due to their promising application in many fields. Recent progress has yielded structures with stochastic porous networks, which limit their controllability and potential performance. It still remains a big challenge for the scalable production to integrate the 2D building block into engineered porous architectures in multidimensions. Here, a versatile technique based on soft bubble templating and fixation by freezing is described to fabricate 3D bubble‐derived graphene foams (BGFs) and 2D bubble‐derived graphene porous membranes (BGPMs). These light‐weight novel structures are carefully tuned. The BGFs show high adsorption capabilities for organic solvents and good recovery in structural deformation. Furthermore, applications of BGFs and BGPMs in strain sensors for wearable devices are discussed, working as a combined system which can both detect the compressive and tensile deformation. This technique can be extended to assemble other nanomaterials as building blocks into macroscopic configurations.     

Thermoelectric Properties of Sn-S Bulk Materials Prepared by Mechanical Alloying and Spark Plasma Sintering

To study the possibility of SnS as an earth-abundant and environmentally friendly thermoelectric material, the electrical and thermal transport properties of bulk materials prepared by combining mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering were investigated. It was revealed that SnS has potential as a good thermoelectric material, benefiting from its intrinsically low thermal conductivity below 1.0 W/m/K above 400 K and its high Seebeck coefficient over 500 μV/K. Although the highest ZT value was 0.16 at 823 K in the pristine sample, further enhancement can be expected through chemical doping to increase the electrical conductivity. It was also revealed that changing the stoichiometric ratio and sintering temperature had less apparent influence on the microstructure and thermoelectric properties of SnS because redundant S in the powders decomposed during the sintering process.     

Biomimetic Hygroscopic Fibrous Membrane with Hierarchically Porous Structure for Rapid Atmospheric Water Harvesting

Sorption-based atmospheric water generation (SAWG) is a promising strategy to alleviate the drinkable water scarcity of arid regions. However, the high-water production efficiency remains challenging due to the sluggish sorption/desorption kinetics. Herein, a composite sorbent@biomimetic fibrous membrane (PPy-COF@Trilayer-LiCl) is reported by mimicking nature's Murray networks, which exhibits outstanding water uptake performance of 0.77–2.56 g g⁻¹ at a wide range of relative humidity of 30%–80% within 50 min and fast water release capacity of over 95% adsorbed water that can be released within 10 min under one sun irradiation. The superior sorption–desorption kinetics of PPy-COF@Trilayer-LiCl are enabled by the novel hierarchically porous structure, which is also the critical factor to lead a directional rapid water transport and vapor diffusion. Moreover, as a proof-of-concept demonstration, a wearable SAWG device is established, which can operate 10 sorption–desorption cycles per day in the outdoor condition and produce a high yield of clean water reaching up to 3.91 kg m⁻² day⁻¹. This study demonstrates a novel strategy for developing advanced solar-driven SAWG materials with efficient water sorption–desorption properties.     

Ultra-Wideband Electrostrictive Mechanical Antenna

Mechanical antennas based on piezoelectric materials can effectively reduce the size of long wave antennas down to 1/1000 of the wavelength (from km scale to mm level). However, the narrow bandwidth and weak field intensity seriously restrict its practical applications in transmission distance and channel capacity. Here, a mechanical antenna-based electrostrictive effect of relaxor ferroelectric ceramic (PMN-PT) is proposed to improve radiation capacity and achieve ultra-wideband characteristics (10 kHz–1 MHz). Due to the ultra-high dielectric constant at working temperature and the relationship between the strain and applied field intensity, the proposed antenna gets rid of the dependence on the poled materials and exhibits excellent communication properties beyond traditional mechanical antennas, which are experimentally demonstrated by a practical wireless communication system. Only using a single proposed mechanical antenna with 8 mm diameter and 3 mm thickness, the effective communication with a transmission distance of 200 m can be realized. This design offers a promising way of constructing mechanical antennas for long-wave communication.     

Domain Engineering of Lead‐Free Li‐Modified (K,Na)NbO3 Polycrystals with Highly Enhanced Piezoelectricity

Aging and re‐poling induced enhancement of piezoelectricity are found in (K,Na)NbO₃ (KNN)‐based lead‐free piezoelectric ceramics. For a compositionally optimized Li‐doped composition, its piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃ can be increased up to 324 pC N^?1 even from a considerably high value (190 pC N^?1) by means of a re‐poling treatment after room‐temperature aging. Such a high d₃₃ value is only reachable in KNN ceramics with complicated modifications using Ta and Sb dopants. High‐angle X‐ray diffraction analysis reveals apparent changes in the crystallographic orientations related to a 90° domain switching before and after the aging and re‐poling process. A possible mechanism considering both defect migration and rotation of spontaneous polarization explains the experimental results. The present study provides a general approach towards piezoelectric response enhancement in KNN‐based piezoelectric ceramics.