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Synthesis and formation mechanism of nanocrystalline ZrB2–Al2O3 composite powders via an amorphous precursor

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Abstract

ZrB2–Al2O3 composite powders were synthesized at 1100 °C using a novel ZrB2 precursor and Al powders as raw materials. The final ZrB2–Al2O3 composite powders consisted of submicron Al2O3 and nanosize ZrB2 (50–100 nm) particles, which were homogeneously mixed in microscale. Combined with thermodynamic calculation and experiment results, the formation mechanism of ZrB2–Al2O3 composite powders was proposed as follows: ZrB2 precursor first decomposed into ZrO2 and amorphous B2O3. Aluminothermic reduction of ZrO2 and B2O3 generated Zr and B atoms and the coproducts Al2O3, and then, a series of reactions between Zr atoms, B atoms and Al took place to form ZrB2 and Al3Zr. Then, ZrB2, Al2O3 and Al were obtained through a liquid–solid reaction between Al3Zr and B2O3, which is the limiting step in the conversion process. When the Al3Zr was exhausted, the reaction between Al, ZrO2 and B became the main reaction to obtain ZrB2 and Al2O3.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51672170 and 51702206) and Shanghai Science and Technology Commission Research Project (No. 17XD1424700).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200072, China

    Shao-Lei Song, Yue-Hua Lin & Qiang Zhen

  2. Nano-Science and Technology Research Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Shao-Lei Song, Yong-Li Fan, Rong Li & Qiang Zhen

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  1. Shao-Lei Song
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  2. Yong-Li Fan
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Correspondence to Rong Li or Qiang Zhen.

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Song, SL., Fan, YL., Li, R. et al. Synthesis and formation mechanism of nanocrystalline ZrB2–Al2O3 composite powders via an amorphous precursor. Rare Met. 40, 1801–1807 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01428-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01428-y

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