Enhancement of toughness and wear resistance in boron nitride nanoplatelet (BNNP) reinforced Si3N4 nanocomposites.

ABSTRACT: Ceramics have superior hardness, strength and corrosion resistance, but are also associated with poor toughness. Here, we propose the boron nitride nanoplatelet (BNNP) as a novel toughening reinforcement component to ceramics with outstanding mechanical properties and high-temperature stability. We used a planetary ball-milling process to exfoliate BNNPs in a scalable manner and functionalizes them with polystyrene sulfonate. Non-covalently functionalized BNNPs were homogeneously dispersed with Si3N4 powders using a surfactant and then consolidated by hot pressing. The fracture toughness of the BNNP/Si3N4 nanocomposite increased by as much as 24.7% with 2 vol.% of BNNPs. Furthermore, BNNPs enhanced strength (9.4%) and the tribological properties (26.7%) of the ceramic matrix. Microstructur

SUBMITTER: Lee B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4897790 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature