Nanoceramics: Issues and Opportunities

Abstract

The goal of this study is to review developments in nanoceramics as discussed during presentations on the subject during the International Ceramic Congress (ICC4) held in Chicago on July 2012. As nanotechnology is such a broad subject affecting many industrial sectors, some presentations in other sessions were included as well. The study has been organized according to the dimensions of the nanoscale material starting with nanoscale entities or particulates followed by nanothin films and finally bulk nanoceramics where the nanoscale character lies in the structure. Developments on hybrid nanocomposites containing at least one ceramic compound were often included in the presentations and are discussed in a separate section. The promise of nanotechnology is also to discover materials with totally new properties or combinations of properties. One such example presented in depth at the conference is presented. The study concludes with a section on issues and opportunities. In general, it can be said that the very large investments that were made more than a decade ago into nanotechnology start to pay off dividends. Products are appearing on the market and can have a substantial impact there. Other commercial applications are on the horizon. Because of the wide scope of the technology, there are still plenty of opportunities for research and development. A particular issue that was mentioned by a number of speakers is that of upscaling, which can be understood literally as interfacing the nanostructure with the micro-, meso-, and macroworld. However, often one means the implementation on the factory floor of processes that have been developed within the laboratory.

Dry sliding wear analysis of vacuum die‐casted hybrid aluminum nanocomposites using the DOE Taguchi method

“…Pure Al metal ingots of 2.7 g/cm 3 were used as a base matrix that possesses higher elongation, strength, and shape memory at elevated temperatures. Titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) and yttrium oxide (Y 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles were in the form of fine powder with an average particle size of 30 nm each.…”

“…MMNCs are generally composed of matrix or continuous phases with distributed ceramics as oxides, nitrides, or carbides 2 . In this technological atmosphere, numerous materials with the variability of different ceramic nano reinforcements are optimized for the specified objectives 3 . The research on MMNCs has risen among researchers due to their properties like less thermal expansion, electrical conductivity, machinability, recyclability, and strength to weight fraction 4 .…”

From design to characterization of zirconium nitride/silicon nitride nanocomposites

“…Among the different types of materials with high potential in energy-related fields, advanced ceramics -inorganic and non-metallic solids that represent an "advancement" over traditional ceramics (e.g., porcelain) -exhibit unique and/or superior functional attributes that can be "precisely specified" by careful synthesis, processing and quality control. Because of the attention to microstructural design and the large possibilities of element combination which are known to enhance performance and to generate new physical phenomena, ceramics prepared at nanoscale, i.e., nanoceramics [2], represent high value-added products that recently demonstrated attractivities in the energy fields [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Such nanoceramics can represent also a nanoscaled component of composite materials to form nanocomposites with completely novel property combinations, owing to the synergetic effects between the different components.…”

Characterization of Nanoreinforcement Dispersion in Inorganic Nanocomposites: A Review

“…Moreover, a wide majority of these characterization techniques have been used to assess the nanoreinforcement distribution on a qualitative basis only, providing no means to quantify the extent of distribution, which is highly desirable for a more effective and reliable prediction of bulk mechanical properties of the nanocomposite. Although excellent review papers were published on the processing, characterization, and properties of polymer matrix nanocomposites [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ], less literature is available on metal and ceramic matrix nanocomposites [ 1 , 2 , 9 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. On top of that, the issue of nanoreinforcement dispersion in metal and ceramic nanocomposites was not fully addressed.…”