A novel biomimetic approach to the design of high-performance ceramic–metal composites |
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| Authors: | Maximilien E Launey Etienne Munch Daan Hein Alsem Eduardo Saiz Antoni P Tomsia Robert O Ritchie |
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| Affiliation: | 1.Materials Sciences Division, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA;2.National Center for Electron Microscopy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA;3.Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA |
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| Abstract: | The prospect of extending natural biological design to develop new synthetic ceramic–metal composite materials is examined. Using ice-templating of ceramic suspensions and subsequent metal infiltration, we demonstrate that the concept of ordered hierarchical design can be applied to create fine-scale laminated ceramic–metal (bulk) composites that are inexpensive, lightweight and display exceptional damage-tolerance properties. Specifically, Al2O3/Al–Si laminates with ceramic contents up to approximately 40 vol% and with lamellae thicknesses down to 10 µm were processed and characterized. These structures achieve an excellent fracture toughness of 40 MPa√m at a tensile strength of approximately 300 MPa. Salient toughening mechanisms are described together with further toughening strategies. |
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| Keywords: | ceramics metals composites toughness strength freeze-casting |
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