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Porous high-entropy (Zr0.25Hf0.25Nb0.25Ti0.25)C with high strength and uniform pore structure fabricated by freeze-casting

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Abstract

Ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) are considered as promising thermal insulation materials applied in ultra-high temperature environments (> 2000 °C). However, the high thermal conductivity and high density limit their further development and application. Herein we adopt the strategies of introducing porous structure and high-entropy effect to solve the above problems. Thus porous high-entropy (Zr0.25Hf0.25Nb0.25Ti0.25)C ceramics were prepared. In order to obtain the uniform pore structure and high mechanical property, the camphene-based freeze-casting method was used in this study. The as-prepared porous samples exhibit high porosity of 92.01–73.57% and homogeneously interconnected pore structure with average pore size of 40.8–19.6 μm. Besides, this work realizes the aims of lightweight (0.65–2.15 g/cm3) and low thermal conductivity (0.29–1.53 W/(m·K)). More importantly, porous samples still have the merit of high compressive strength (0.38–29.02 MPa) due to the even microstructure. The results show that highly porous high-entropy (Zr0.25Hf0.25Nb0.25Ti0.25)C with good overall properties can be an excellent candidate material for ultra-high temperature thermal insulation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. U21A2063, 52372071; National Key R&D Program of China under Grant No. 2021YFB3702300; LiaoNing Revitalization Talents Program under Grant No. XLYC2002018; and Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province under Grant No. 2022-MS-007. The author thanks Doctor Zhuojie Shao and Master Qiaoqi Zhou for the help of discussion for experimental procedures and some TEM works.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Dawei Zeng, Jiaxin Zhou, Zhen Wu, Luchao Sun & Jingyang Wang

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Dawei Zeng & Jiaxin Zhou

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  1. Dawei Zeng
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Zeng, D., Zhou, J., Wu, Z. et al. Porous high-entropy (Zr0.25Hf0.25Nb0.25Ti0.25)C with high strength and uniform pore structure fabricated by freeze-casting. J Mater Sci (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-09456-0

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