The range, growth, and innovations in hard/superhard materials have become commonplace in materials science, as evidenced by the brisk growth of research across and within cemented carbides (hard metal), ceramics, and superhard materials. The reader will find original articles covering many relatively unexplored but converging research spaces, and the content fully explores the various relationships focusing on the fundamentals, properties, characterization and applications of such materials. It was the editorial team's goal to put together a work that should provide strategic insight into hard/super-hard materials.
This class of materials consists of unique combinations of carbides and nitrides of transition metals, ranging from the fourth to the sixth group of the periodic table, and ferrous metals such as Co, Ni, Fe. From a historical perspective, the book contains detailed aspects of production, composition/structure/properties and applications. The aim was to define the state of the art in hard metal production, along with a thorough illustration of the most recent advances made by scientific research.
Volume 3 aimed to present all critical areas related to superhard materials, focusing on recent advances in research, development and applications. Nebel, numerous professional contributors and reviewers are responsible for creating this definitive publication that covers the full breadth and considerable depth of the field of hard/superhard materials.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
VOLUME EDITORS
Nebel graduated in electrical engineering from the University of Stuttgart where he also obtained his PhD in 1989. He became a postdoctoral fellow at the Xerox Research Center, Palo Alto, USA between 1990 and 1992 funded by the Alexander v. He joined the team of Martin Stutzmann at the Walter Schottky Institute of the Technical University of Munich in 1993 where he habilitated in 1998.
In 2004, he joined the Diamond Research Center of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan, where he led the Bio-Functionalized Device Team. In 2008 he returned to Germany to become Head of the Micro and Nanosensors Department of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics in Freiburg.
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Department of Physics of Strength and Plasticity of Materials, Frantsevich Institute for Problems of Materials Science, Kiev, Ukraine. Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA. Center of Super-Diamond and Advanced Films (COSDAF), and Department of Physics and Materials Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Cheela Avenue, Hong Kong SAR, P.R.
Department of Materials, Glass and Ceramics Technology, Koblenz University of Applied Sciences, Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany. School of Physics and DST/NRF Center of Excellence in Solid Materials, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Department of Geosciences, Center for Materials by Design, Institute for Advanced Computational Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA; Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny city, Moscow Region, Russian Federation; Northwest Polytechnic University, Xi'an, China.
Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA Uwe Schleinkofer. Retired from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
INTRODUCTION
Fundamental Aspects of Hard Ceramics
- Introduction
- Structure and Property Relationships
- Processing and Fabrication of Ceramics .1 Shaping and Forming
- Microstructure
- Mechanical Properties
- Some Examples of Hard Ceramics .1 Silicon Nitride
- Summary
Kingery's model assumes (1) a significant amount of liquid, (2) significant solubility of the solid in the liquid, and (3) complete wetting of the solid by the liquid. Some background on this aspect of ceramic behavior is given in the following sections. Observations on the effect of secondary Me oxide additions (Me¼Si, Al, Mg) on the microstructural development and mechanical behavior of silicon nitride ceramics containing RE2O3(RE¼La, Gd, Lu). Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
Grain boundary phases in MgO fluxed hot pressed silicon nitride. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Sintering in the presence of a liquid phase. Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Pressureless sintered in situ hardened flat ceramic ZrB2–SiC. Journal of the European Ceramic Society.
Core/rim structure of liquid-phase sintered silicon carbide. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Grain boundary films in silicon nitride based on rare earth glass. Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
SYNTHESIS AND PROCESSING
Processing of Alumina and Corresponding Composites 2.03 Synthesis/Processing of Silicon Nitride Ceramics
Joining Methods for Hard Ceramics
Processing of Alumina and Corresponding Composites
- Introduction
- Production of Alumina
- Alumina Materials
- Fabrication of Alumina Materials
- Fabrication of Alumina-Matrix Composites .1 Alumina-Oxide Composites
- Fabrication of Alumina-Based Laminates
- Fabrication of Alumina Nanocomposites .1 Alumina–SiC
- Concluding Remarks
Design and processing of Al2O3-Al2TiO5 layer structures. Journal of the European Ceramic Society. Effect of mullite additions on the fracture state of alumina. Journal of the European Ceramic Society. Grain size dependence of hardness in dense submicrometer alumina. Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
Processing of high density submicrometer Al2O3 for new applications.Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Grain structure and thickness during aluminum smelting. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Transformation strengthening in sol-gel derived alumina-zirconia composites.Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
Critical factors in the templated grain growth of textured reaction-bonded alumina. Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
Synthesis/Processing of Silicon Nitride Ceramics
- Overview of Silicon Nitride Ceramics .1 Introduction to the Family of Materials
- Types of Silicon Nitride
- Powders and Their Processing
- Shape Making
- Densification
- Finishing
- Effects on Properties and Behavior
- Summary and Suggested Further Research
Another major silicon nitride family is the Hot Pressed Silicon Nitride (HPSN)/Sintered Silicon Nitride (SSN)/Hot Isostatic Pressed Silicon Nitride (HIPSN) series. To prevent powder contamination, some companies have developed silicon nitride grinding balls. Microstructural design of silicon nitride with improved fracture toughness: I, effects of grain size and shape. Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
Processing, microstructure and properties of laminated silicon nitride stacks. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Controlled crystallization of the amorphous phase in silicon nitride ceramics. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Oxidation behavior of rare-earth disilicate-silicon nitride ceramics. Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
Predicting failure stress in silicon nitride ceramics using microfocus radiography. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 71 (11), C460–C461. Effect of surface defects on the biaxial strength of silicon nitride ceramics - strength enhancement by crack healing. Journal of the European Ceramic Society. Effect of carbon fiber content on processing and tribological properties of silicon nitride/carbon composites. Journal of the European Ceramic Society.
Relationship between microstructure, hardening mechanism and fracture toughness of reinforced silicon nitride ceramics. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Effects of CO2laser surface treatment on fracture behavior of silicon nitride ceramics. Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology, Transactions of the ASME. Interaction of encapsulation glass and silicon nitride ceramic during HIPing.Journal of the European Ceramic Society.
Influence of yttrium oxide content on sintering behavior and microstructure of silicon nitride ceramics. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Processing and thermal conductivity of sintered reaction-bonded silicon nitride. Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
Processing of Silicon Carbide-Based Ceramics
- Introduction
- Phase Relations and Crystal Structure
- SiC Raw Materials Production
- Silicon Carbide-Based Ceramics
- Summary and Prospects
Close bilayers of the SiC lattice can be expected to behave in the same way. By 1700C, the microstructure of this FAST SiC consists of globular grains, although a slight b/a transformation was observed as early as 1700C. For samples at 175 °C, the growth of plate grains in a fine-grained matrix was observed, so that a bimodal grain size distribution was present. Specimen (a) achieved a flexural strength of only 65 MPa with a rupture strain of only 0.1%, which is typical for all brittle untempered materials.
Reactive infiltration of Si-Mo alloy melt on carbonaceous silicon carbide preforms. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Effect of weight loss on liquid phase sintered silicon carbide. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Effect of initial particle size on the microstructure of liquid phase sintered silicon carbide. Journal of the European Ceramics Society.
Effect of initiala phase content on microstructure and mechanical properties of sintered silicon carbide. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Microstructural evolution of silicon carbide containing large seed grains. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Fabrication of dense nanostructured silicon carbide ceramics through two-step sintering. Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
Liquid Phase Reaction Bonding of Silicon Carbide Using Alloyed Silicon and Molybdenum Melts. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Toughness properties of silicon carbide with in situ induced heterogeneous grain structure. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Silicon carbide nanopowders: a parametric study of laser pyrolysis synthesis. Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
High temperature effects in the fracture mechanical behavior of silicon carbide liquid phase sintered with AlN-Y2O3 additives. Journal of the European Ceramics Association.
Spark Plasma Sintering of Nanoceramic Composites
- Introduction
When it comes to processing nanoceramics, control of grain growth during sintering remains the biggest challenge with conventional sintering techniques. In the above background, various advanced sintering techniques such as spark plasma sintering (SPS), sintering forging and sintering hot isostatic pressing were applied to develop nanomaterials (Basu & Balani, 2011; Mukhopadhyay & Basu, 2007). Some of the main processing-related challenges in the development of nanoceramics and nanoceramic composites are illustrated in Figure 2.
The adoption of proper cost-effective synthesis route to obtain non-agglomerated nanopowders, the formation of green compacts without cracks or density gradients and the choice of suitable densification technique to inhibit grain growth in the final stage of sintering are the key factors to be controlled are used in the production of nanocrystalline materials. In particular, some nanoceramic composites may perform better.
