Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Alumina Composite Materials

Abstract

Novel materials and processing routes provide opportunities for the production of advanced high performance structures for different applications. Ceramic matrix composites are one of these promising materials. Engineering ceramics such as Al2O3, Si3N4, SiC and ZrO2 produced by conventional manufacturing technology have high stiffness, excellent thermostability and relatively low density, but extreme brittle nature restricted them from many structural applications (Mukerji, 1993). Considerable attention has been adopted to improve the fracture toughness. An approach has been paid to the development of nanocrystalline ceramics with improved fracture properties. Decreasing the grain size of ceramics to the suband nano-meter scale leads to a marked increase in fracture strength (Miyahara et al., 1994). However, fracture toughness of nanocrystalline ceramics generally displays modest improvement or even deterioration (Miyahara et al., 1994; Rice, 1996; Yao et al., 2011). As one possible approach, incorporation of particulates, flakes and short/long fibers into ceramics matrix, as a second phase, to produce tougher ceramic materials is an eminent practice for decades (Evans, 1990). Recently, researchers have focused on the carbon nanomaterials, in particular carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which are nanometer-sized tubes of single(SWCNTs) or multilayer graphene (MWCNTs) with outstanding mechanical, chemical and electrical properties (Dai et al., 1996; Ebbesen et al., 1996; Treacy et al., 1996; Huang et al., 2006; Peng et al., 2008), motivating their use in ceramic composite materials as a fibrous reinforcing agent.