Fracture toughness of ceramics
A method of making ceramics is provided. The method comprises preparing a dispersion of a nano-material. A slurry of a ceramic matrix material is prepared. The nano-dispersion is mixed with the matrix slurry to form a nano-dispersion/slurry mixture. The nano-dispersion/slurry mixture is dried. The nano-dispersion/slurry mixture is pressed into a final manufacture comprising a granular structure including the nano-material bonded within and uniformly distributed throughout the granular structure. The manufacture comprises an increased fracture toughness compared with a conventional manufacture produced without bonding the nano-material within the granular structure. The nano-material has a size on the order of tens of nanometers. The matrix material has a size on the order of several micrometers. Five percent of the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture comprises the nano-material dispersion. Sintering is performed on the final form using a sintering process following the pressing step. The sintering process includes a hot isostatic pressing process.
1. A method of making ceramics comprising:
providing a nano-material with an average diameter of 1-15 nanometers, wherein the nano-material is created using a plasma process;
preparing a dispersion of the nano-material, wherein the nano-material comprises 0.5-20 wt % of the dispersion;
preparing a slurry of a ceramic matrix material; mixing the nano-dispersion with the matrix slurry to form a nano-dispersion/slurry mixture, wherein 0.5-20 percent of the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture comprises the nano-material dispersion;
drying the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture; and
pressing the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture into a final manufacture comprising a granular structure including the nano-material bonded within and uniformly distributed throughout the granular structure.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixing comprises pouring the slurry into the dispersion while agitating the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixing comprises pouring the dispersion into the slurry while agitating the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a micron sized matrix material having an average grain size greater than or equal to 1 micrometer before the slurry preparing step.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein one percent of the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture comprises the nano-material dispersion.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein 0.5-10.0 percent of the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture comprises the nano-material dispersion.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sintering the final form using a sintering process following the pressing step.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the sintering process comprises a hot isostatic pressing process.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the manufacture includes the nano-material bonded at triple points of the granular structure.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the drying of the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture comprises a spray drying process.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the drying of the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture comprises a freeze drying process.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nano-material comprises an oxide ceramic material.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nano-material comprises a metallic material.
14. A method of making ceramics comprising:
providing a non-oxide ceramic nano-material with an average diameter of 1-15 nanometers, wherein the nano-material is created using a plasma process;
preparing a dispersion of the non-oxide ceramic nano-material, wherein the nano-material comprises 0.5-20 wt % of the dispersion
preparing a slurry of a ceramic matrix material;
mixing the nano-dispersion with the matrix slurry to form a nano-dispersion/slurry mixture, wherein 0.5-20 percent of the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture comprises the nano-material dispersion;
drying the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture; and
pressing the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture into a final manufacture comprising a granular structure including the nano-material bonded within and uniformly distributed throughout the granular structure.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the mixing comprises pouring the slurry into the dispersion while agitating the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the mixing comprises pouring the dispersion into the slurry while agitating the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture.
17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising providing a micron sized matrix material having an average grain size greater than or equal to 1 micrometer before the slurry preparing step.
18. The method of claim 14 , wherein one percent of the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture comprises the nano-material dispersion.
19. The method of claim 14 , wherein 0.5-10.0 percent of the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture comprises the nano-material dispersion.
20. The method of claim 14 , further comprising sintering the final form using a sintering process following the pressing step.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the sintering process comprises a hot isostatic pressing process.
22. The method of claim 14 , wherein the manufacture includes the nano-material bonded at triple points of the granular structure.
23. The method of claim 14 , wherein the drying of the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture comprises a spray drying process.
24. The method of claim 14 , wherein the drying of the nano-dispersion/slurry mixture comprises a freeze drying process.