Published in:
Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 100 (2017) 1, Seite 323-332
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1111/jace.14551
ISSN:
0002-7820;
1551-2916
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
AbstractWe report the synthesis of alumina/stishovite nano‐nano composite ceramics through a pressure‐induced dissociation in Al2SiO5 at a pressure of 15.6 GPa and temperatures of 1300°C‐1900°C. Stishovite is a high‐pressure polymorph of silica and the hardest known oxide at ambient conditions. The grain size of the composites increases with synthesis temperature from ~15 to ~750 nm. The composite is harder than alumina and the hardness increases with reducing grain size down to ~80 nm following a Hall–Petch relation. The maximum hardness with grain size of 81 nm is 23 ± 1 GPa. A softening with reducing grain size was observed below this grain size down to ~15 nm, which is known as inverse Hall–Petch behavior. The grain size dependence of the hardness might be explained by a composite model with a softer grain‐boundary phase.