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B4C-SiC skeleton reinforced graphite composites with excellent mechanical properties

  • Composites & nanocomposites
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Abstract

SiC-B4C ceramic skeleton reinforced graphite composites (MCMB/SiC-B4C) with extraordinary mechanical performance were fabricated by SPS method. The influence of sintering temperature and volume ratio of B4C/SiC on the microstructure and mechanical performance of the composites was studied. With the introduction of B4C in the composites, the B atom diffusion at the B4C/graphite interface can be activated when the sintering temperature exceeded 1700 °C, which can significantly improve the interfacial combination of the skeleton reinforcement and graphite matrix. Therefore, the relative density and mechanical properties of the composites can be improved. While the sintering temperature reached 1800 °C and the volume ratio of B4C/SiC was 4:6 (the total amount of ceramic reinforcement phase was 40 vol%), the composite exhibited the optimal comprehensive performance with bending strength of 202 MPa and fracture toughness of 3.29 MPa·m1/2. These values were 146% and 58% higher, respectively, than those of the composite without B4C. The developed graphite matrix composites are expected to be applied to extreme conditions such as high load, high temperature and oxidation environments.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (92163112), the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (2023-JCJQ-29), the Innovative Scientific Program of CNNC and the Opening Foundation of Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Aerospace Composites. We thank Dr. Chaowei Guo at School of Materials Science and Engineering of Xi’an Jiaotong University for his assistance with back scattered electron microscope.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Huaizhi Lin, Biao Zhang, Wenqi Xie, Zhilei Wei, Hongyan Xia & Zhongqi Shi

  2. China Nuclear Power Engineering Co. Ltd, Beijing, 100840, China

    Kai He

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  1. Huaizhi Lin
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Contributions

HL: formal analysis, writing—original draft. BZ: investigation, methodology. WX: data curation. ZW: software. KH: supervision; validation. HX: project administration, resources. ZS: conceptualization, supervision, writing—review & editing, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Hongyan Xia or Zhongqi Shi.

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Lin, H., Zhang, B., Xie, W. et al. B4C-SiC skeleton reinforced graphite composites with excellent mechanical properties. J Mater Sci 58, 12221–12235 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08788-7

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