Nacre-like alumina with unique high strain rate capabilities

Nacre-like alumina manufactured using spark plasma sintering shows a strikingly different mechanical behaviour compared to conventional alumina. A range of sintering conditions were applied to micron-sized alumina platelet powders to form alumina with different nacre-like microstructures, density, g...

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Main Authors: Evers, K, Falco, S, Grobert, N, Todd, R
Format: Journal article
Published: Elsevier 2019
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author Evers, K
Falco, S
Grobert, N
Todd, R
author_facet Evers, K
Falco, S
Grobert, N
Todd, R
author_sort Evers, K
collection OXFORD
description Nacre-like alumina manufactured using spark plasma sintering shows a strikingly different mechanical behaviour compared to conventional alumina. A range of sintering conditions were applied to micron-sized alumina platelet powders to form alumina with different nacre-like microstructures, density, grain size and flexural strength. We show that a microstructure of aligned sintered platelets not only mitigates the typical issue of brittleness, but also has extraordinary energy absorption capabilities. It can withstand an impact with up to three times the kinetic energy required to break monolithic alumina while maintaining structural integrity. The high-rate compressive strength is shown to be more than 50% higher than that of monolithic alumina and we show energy absorption mechanisms such as crack deflection and branching to be present. Our approach provides a fast and effective way of manufacturing aligned nacre-like ceramic microstructures that maintain structural integrity through energy dissipation and interlocking mechanisms.
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spelling oxford-uuid:e80990e2-f672-445c-b59f-648d85f76ec82022-03-27T10:43:40ZNacre-like alumina with unique high strain rate capabilitiesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:e80990e2-f672-445c-b59f-648d85f76ec8Symplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2019Evers, KFalco, SGrobert, NTodd, RNacre-like alumina manufactured using spark plasma sintering shows a strikingly different mechanical behaviour compared to conventional alumina. A range of sintering conditions were applied to micron-sized alumina platelet powders to form alumina with different nacre-like microstructures, density, grain size and flexural strength. We show that a microstructure of aligned sintered platelets not only mitigates the typical issue of brittleness, but also has extraordinary energy absorption capabilities. It can withstand an impact with up to three times the kinetic energy required to break monolithic alumina while maintaining structural integrity. The high-rate compressive strength is shown to be more than 50% higher than that of monolithic alumina and we show energy absorption mechanisms such as crack deflection and branching to be present. Our approach provides a fast and effective way of manufacturing aligned nacre-like ceramic microstructures that maintain structural integrity through energy dissipation and interlocking mechanisms.
spellingShingle Evers, K
Falco, S
Grobert, N
Todd, R
Nacre-like alumina with unique high strain rate capabilities
title Nacre-like alumina with unique high strain rate capabilities
title_full Nacre-like alumina with unique high strain rate capabilities
title_fullStr Nacre-like alumina with unique high strain rate capabilities
title_full_unstemmed Nacre-like alumina with unique high strain rate capabilities
title_short Nacre-like alumina with unique high strain rate capabilities
title_sort nacre like alumina with unique high strain rate capabilities
work_keys_str_mv AT eversk nacrelikealuminawithuniquehighstrainratecapabilities
AT falcos nacrelikealuminawithuniquehighstrainratecapabilities
AT grobertn nacrelikealuminawithuniquehighstrainratecapabilities
AT toddr nacrelikealuminawithuniquehighstrainratecapabilities