Fibre Metallurgy Characteristic of Short Cast Iron Fibre and Its Applications for Diamond Wheel

A kind of diamond grinding wheel bonded by short cast iron fibres has been developed. ln comparison with high quality bronze bonded diamond grinding wheel. the new wheel was more suitable to grind hard and brittle materials like ceramics. For Si3N4, the grinding efficiency has been raised two times and the grinding ratio five times

Experimental Observation of Cubic C_3N_4 Compound in Carbon Nitride Thin Films

Cubic C3N4 compound in the C-N thin films on Si and NaCl substrates was prepared by ion beam sputtering of a pure graphite target with discharge gas of pure N2. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated that nitrogen atoms combined with sp2- and sp3- coordinated C atoms in the film, respectively. X-ray diffraction, selected area electron diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy were used to identify the cubic C3N4 phase. The results reconfirm the ab initio calculations on metastable structure in C-N compounds

Novel Boron Nitride Polymorphs with Graphite-Diamond Hybrid Structure

Both boron nitride(BN)and carbon(C)have sp,sp^(2)and sp^(3)hybridization modes,thus resulting in a variety of BN and C polymorphs with similar structures,such as hexagonal BN(hBN)and graphite,cubic BN(cBN)and diamond.Here,five types of BN polymorph structures are proposed theoretically,inspired by the graphite-diamond hybrid structures discovered in a recent experiment.These BN polymorphs with graphite-diamond hybrid structures possess excellent mechanical properties with combined high hardness and high ductility,and also exhibit various electronic properties such as semi-conductivity,semi-metallicity,and even one-and two-dimensional conductivity,differing from known insulators hBN and cBN.The simulated diffraction patterns of these BN hybrid structures could account for the unsolved diffraction patterns of intermediate products composed of so-called“compressed hBN”and diamond-like BN,caused by phase transitions in previous experiments.Thus,this work provides a theoretical basis for the presence of these types of hybrid materials during phase transitions between graphite-like and diamond-like BN polymorphs.

Nanocrystalline high-entropy hexaboride ceramics enable remarkable performance as thermionic emission cathodes

The development of high-entropy borides with combined structural and functional performance holds untold scientific and technological potential,yet relevant studies have been rarely reported.In this work,we report nanocrystalline(La_(0.25)Ce_(0.25)Nd_(0.25)Eu_(0.25))B6 high-entropy rare-earth hexaboride(HEReB6-1)ceramics fabricated through the high-pressure sintering of self-synthesized nanopowders for the first time.The as-fabricated samples exhibited a highly dense(96.3%)nanocrystalline(94 nm)microstructure with major(001)fiber textures and good grain boundaries without any impurities,resulting in a remarkable mechanical,electrical,and thermionic emission performance.The results showed that the samples possessed outstanding comprehensive mechanical properties and a high electrical resistivity from room temperature to high temperatures;these were greater than the average values of corresponding binary rare-earth hexaborides,such as a Vickers hardness of 23.4±0.6 GPa and a fracture toughness of 3.0±0.4 MPa•m^(1/2)at room temperature.More importantly,they showed high emission current densities at elevated temperatures,which were higher than the average values of the corresponding binary rare-earth hexaborides.For instance,the maximum emission current density reached 48.3 A•cm^(−2)at 1873 K.Such superior performance makes the nanocrystalline HEReB6-1 ceramics highly suitable for potential applications in thermionic emission cathodes.

Discovery of superhard materials via CALYPSO methodology

The study of superhard materials plays a critical role in modern industrial applications due to their widespread applications as cutting tools, abrasives, exploitation drills, and coatings. The search for new superhard materials with superior performance remains a hot topic and is mainly considered as two classes of materials:(i) the light-element compounds in the B-C-N-O(-Si) system with strong and short covalent bonds, and(ii) the transition-element light-element compounds with strong covalent bonds frameworks and high valence electron density. In this paper, we review the recent achievements in the prediction of superhard materials mostly using the advanced CALYPSO methodology. A number of novel, superhard crystals of light-element compounds and transition-metal borides, carbides, and nitrides have been theoretically identified and some of them account well for the experimentally mysterious phases. To design superhard materials via CALYPSO methodology is independent of any known structural and experimental data, resulting in many remarkable structures accelerating the development of new superhard materials.

The rise of plastic deformation in boron nitride ceramics

Ceramics are bonded by ionic or covalent bonds,with very limited slip systems for dislocation nucleation and movement[1].The poor deformability and natural brittleness are the major drawbacks of ceramics,especially when compared with metals.Under stress,ceramics tend to fracture before noticeable plastic deformation takes place.Cracks occur and propagate rapidly in ceramics subjected to stress much lower than the theoretical strength[2].As a result,ceramics can only endure very small strains(<1%),absorb limited mechanical energy,and display poor toughness[3].Moreover,microstructure imperfections in ceramics may decrease the toughness even further.Due to the lack of significant plastic deformation capacity for ceramic materials,the catastrophic failures without warning are easy to happen under stress which critically increases the unreliability of ceramics in the applications as structural materials.

Enhanced thermoelectric performance of Na-doped Pb Te synthesized under high pressure

Despite an effective p-type dopant for PbTe, the low solubility of Na limits the fully optimization of thermoelectric properties of Na-doped PbTe. In this work, Na-doped PbTe was synthesized under high pressure. The formation of the desired rocksalt phase with substantially increased Na content leads to a high carrier concentration of 3.2×10^20 cm^-3 for Na0.03Pb0.97Te. Moreover, dense in-grain dislocations are identified from the microstructure analysis. Benefited from the improved power factor and greatly suppressed lattice thermal conductivity, the maximal ZT of 1.7 is achieved in the optimal Na0.03Pb0.97Te. Current work thus designates the advantage of high pressure in synthesizing PbTe-based thermoelectric materials.

Heat-treated glassy carbon under pressure exhibiting superior hardness,strength and elasticity

Glassy carbon(GC)is a type of non-graphitizing disordered carbon material at ambient pressure and high temperatures,which has been widely used due to its excellent mechanical properties.Here we report the changes in the microstructure and mechanical properties of GC treated at high pressures(up to 5 GPa)and high temperatures.The formation of intermediate sp2-sp3 phases is identified at moderate treatment temperatures before the complete graphitization of GC,by analyzing synchrotron X-ray diffraction,Raman spectra,and transmission electron microscopy images.The intermediate metastable carbon materials exhibit superior mechanical properties with hardness reaching up to 10 GPa and compressive strength reaching as high as 2.5 GPa,nearly doubling those of raw GC,and improving elasticity and thermal stability.The synthesis pressure used in this study can be achieved in the industry on a commercial scale,enabling the scalable synthesis of this type of strong,hard,and elastic carbon materials.

基于二十面体的新型B_(12)CN和B_(13)CN结构的第一性原理研究

以二十面体为基元的富硼化合物具有复杂多样的电子和机械性能.在本工作中,我们采用粒子群优化结构预测方法结合第一性原理计算,首次对二十面体基元的三元B_(12)CN和B_(13)CN化合物的晶体结构和性质进行了全面系统的研究.我们搜索得到了B_(13)CN和B_(12)CN化合物的新结构,其空间群均为Cmc21,与α-B的变体结构相比,新结构具有更优异的热力学稳定性.B_(12)CN的热力学稳定性和机械性能均稍逊于B_(13)CN.此外,B含量的微小差异造成了B_(12)CN与B_(13)CN两种三元化合物迥异的电学特性,即B_(13)CN具有半导体特性,而B_(12)CN具有空穴型导电特性.此外,在B_(12)CN与B_(13)CN系列新结构的拉伸过程中,由于二十面体的连续破坏和二十面体之间的连续断键造成的应力再增强、结构多级破坏和类蠕变变形等特殊变形机制也同样被揭示.

Extraordinary high-temperature mechanical properties in binder-free nanopolycrystalline WC ceramic

From the perspective of high-temperature applications,materials with excellent high-temperature mechanical properties are always desirable.The present work demonstrates that the binder-free nanopolycrystalline WC ceramic with an average grain size of 103 nm obtained by high-pressure and hightemperature sintering exhibits excellent mechanical properties at both room temperature and high temperature up to 1000℃.Specifically,the binder-free nanopolycrystalline WC ceramic still maintains a considerably high Vicker hardness H_(V)of 23.4 GPa at 1000℃,which is only 22%lower than the room temperature H_(V).This outstanding thermo-mechanical stability is superior to that of typical technical ceramics,e.g.SiC,Si_(3)N_(4),Al_(2)O_(3),etc.Nanocrystalline grains with many dislocations,numerous low-energy,highly stableΣ2 grain boundaries,and a relatively low thermal expansion coefficient,are responsible for the observed outstanding high-temperature mechanical properties.

Small onion-like BN leads to ultrafine-twinned cubic BN

Nanotwinned cubic boron nitride(nt-cBN) with remarkable hardness, toughness, and stability has attracted widespread attention due to its distinct scientific and industrial importance. The key for nt-cBN synthesis is to adopt an onion-like BN(oBN) nano-precursor and induce phase transition under high pressure. Here, we found that the size change of oBN used greatly affected the mechanical performance of products. With the precursor size decreasing from^320 to 90 nm, the Vickers hardness of nanostructured products improved from 61 to 108 GPa, due to the fact that large oBN nanoparticles possessed more flattened, orderly and graphite-like shell layers, in sharp contrast to the highly wrinkled and imperfect layers in small-diameter nanoparticles, thus resulting in the apparent reduction of ultrafinetwin substructure in the synthetic products. This study reveals that only small oBN precursor could produce complete ultrafine nt-cBN with outstanding performance. A practical route was proposed to further improve the performance of this important material.

Novel superhard boron-rich nitrides under pressure

Boron and its compounds have attracted much attention due to their interesting and complex structures[1-4].In particular,boron-rich compounds containing icosahedral structures have excellent properties,such as low density,high hardness,high melting point and low wear coffi-cient.