“…Traditionally, porosity and weak interface phases are considered to be detrimental, especially in brittle ceramics, as both of them can initiate catastrophic failure at low stress levels 33,34 . However, our study is the first to demonstrate that the interplay between nanopores and weak interface phases in nanocrystalline ceramics can enhance the fracture toughness, engineering strength and even ductility of brittle B 4 C. As the nanopores are much smaller than the critical crack size (~3-5 µm) of brittle B 4 C, even they have a sharp corner, they would not serve as the crack sources and instead increase, rather than decrease, fracture strength when the initiated microcracks are blunted by the nanopore-mediated GB sliding, which is lubricated by the interface amorphous carbon.…”