Papers by Author: Jie Cai Han

Abstract: SiC whisker was introduced into reaction bonded silicon carbide to produce high performances composite by slip casting and reaction sintering. This study aimed at morphology of SiC whisker in the reaction bonded silicon carbide ceramics. The whisker was homogeneously dispersed into SiC/C suspension by ball-milling and ultrasonic dispersion. By chemical etching, the whisker displays the original burl profile on the polished surface of the composite. The raise of whisker fraction leads to an increase of porosity of the green body; and thus a decrease of density of the sintered body. For the specimen with 25 wt.% whisker, the rapid reaction of carbon with excess molten silicon leads to the missing of burl profile on the whisker surface. It is speculated that β-SiC on the whisker surface dissolved in the molten silicon during liquid silicon infiltration.

Abstract: In this paper, micrometers long and 20–100nm diameter SiC nanowires had been synthesized in the Cw/SiC composites by annealing treatment. The present work demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate in-situ SiC nanowires toughening Cw/SiC composites. La2O3 had a significant effect on the morphology and distribution of the SiC nanowires in the Cw/SiC composites. The excess lanthanum resulted in the growth of SiC nanowires with an increasing growth rate in the longitudinal direction and a decreasing growth rate in radial direction. The addition of La2O3 would improve the mechanical properties in the room-temperature. The vapor–liquid-solid growth mechanism of the SiC nanowires along <111> direction was proposed. The combination of grain bridging, crack deflection, whisker debonding and SiC nanowires can improve fracture toughness.

Abstract: Sapphire crystals grown by an improved Kyropoulos-like method were irradiated by gamma rays and electrons in this paper. Thermoluminescence (TL) and optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) properties of sapphire were studied. TL glow curves of sapphire were varied within the room temperature to 500°C at a heating rate of 10min•s-1. The OSL spectra wavelength covered were from 200nm to 700nm. There was a new peak at 220°C, which was produced by the irradiation of gamma rays and electrons. Two broad bands at 330nm and 410nm were found in the luminescence spectra, which were due to transitions of two charge states of an anion vacancy defect, corresponding to F+ and F color centers, respectively.

Abstract: In this study, a disk-shaped step-down piezoelectric transformer that consists of Mg:LN single crystals operating in the extensional vibration mode was proposed, and its characteristics wre investigated. This paper proposed the PT using ring/dot electrode which had an outer diameter of 22 mm, a narrow annular gap circle of 1.0 mm and a thickness of 1.0 mm. The transformer was poled along the thickness direction. The top surface was covered by two ring-shaped electrodes separated by a narrow annular gap, and the regions covered by the outer and inner ring electrodes serve as the output and input parts of the transformer, respectively. The bottom surface was fully covered with a gold electrode. Moreover, according to the physical equivalent circuit model of the latest invented vibration mode, PT of Mg:LN single crystals were fabricated and characterized. Finally, we investigated the gain under different load resistances and input voltage.

Abstract: HfB2-HfC-SiC ultrahigh temperature ceramics (UHTCs) were prepared and characterized in this paper. It is showed that the densities of the HfB2-HfC-SiC reach 98.5% of the theory density. The room temperature compressive properties of the HfB2-HfC-SiC are good, while those at high temperature decrease rapidly. The volume expansion ratio monotonously increases (up to 2.35% at 2300°C) with increasing temperature. Furthermore, with increasing temperature, the average linear expansion coefficient hardly changes, while the instant linear expansion coefficient decreases first, and followed by an increase. The minimum value of the instant linear expansion coefficient is 5.65×10-6/K at 900°C and that of the mean linear expansion coefficient is 7.39×10-6/K at 1340°C. HfB2-HfC-SiC were burned with the plasma arc heater. After 8-second ablation, part of the SiC particles melted and spurted from the composites, and holes appeared.

Abstract: In this study, two rare earth oxides, Y2O3 and La2O3, are used as the additives in the sintering of ZrB2-SiC composites to improve the sinterability and control development of microstructure during densification. The results show that the use of rare earth oxides (5vol.%) improves the powder sinterability, hindered excessive growth of matrix particles and increase fracture toughness of ZrB2-SiC composites, in comparison to ZrB2-SiC with additions free. Nearly full dense materials are obtained by hot pressing at 1900°C. XRD analyses indicate that lanthanum-containing phases were formed in the composite with La2O3. Microstructure observations by SEM reveal that the grain size of ZrB2-SiC with Y2O3 and La2O3 composites are less than the sample without additives, which indicates Y2O3 and La2O3 may restrain the grain growth and increase the fracture toughness. The fracture toughness of ZrB2-SiC composites with Y2O3 and La2O3 reached 5.0MPa·m1/2 and 5.5MPa·m1/2 respectively. Therefore, the additive Y2O3 and La2O3 are very effective as sintering aids for the ZrB2-SiC composite.

Abstract: ZrB2-based ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) were prepared from a mixture powder of Zr/B4C/Si with different ratio via reactive hot pressing. The experimental results showed that the sintering temperature above 1800°C was necessary for enhancing the activity of the powders and thus improving the densification of the product. The sinterability and densification properties of ZrB2-based UHTCs meliorated with the amount of Si increasing. However, many large ZrB2 agglomerates formed when the amount of synthesized SiC in the product reached 25vol%, which led to decrease the mechanical property. The composite had highest mechanical properties when the volume ratio of ZrB2: SiC: ZrC was 73.86:20:6.14, and its flexual strength and the fracture toughness were 645.8MPa and 5.66MPa·m1/2 respectively. The microstructure investigation showed the in-situ formed SiC and ZrC were located in the triple point of ZrB2 grains with a size less than 3μm.

Abstract: SiC whisker-reinforced ZrB2 matrix ultra-high temperature ceramic were prepared at 2000°C for 1 h under 30MPa by hot pressing and the effects of whisker on flexural strength and fracture toughness of the composites was examined. The flexural strength and fracture toughness are 510±25MPa and 4.05±0.20MPa⋅m1/2 at room temperature, respectively. Comparing with the SiC particles-reinforced ZrB2 ceramic, no significant increase in both strength and toughness was observed. The microstructure of the composite showed that the SiC whisker was destroyed because the SiC whisker degraded due to rapid atom diffusivity at high temperature. The results suggested that some related parameters such as the lower hot-pressing temperature, a short sintering time should be controlled in order to obtain SiC whiskerreinforced ZrB2 composite with high properties.

Abstract: The present study focuses on the dynamic oxidation resistance of five representative ZrB2-SiC based ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs): ZrB2-SiC, ZrB2-SiC-Si3N4, ZrB2-SiC-TiB2, ZrB2-SiCHfB2 and ZrB2-SiC-ZrC using oxyacetylene torch and arc jet testing. The effects of second phase incorporation (Si3N4, TiB2, HfB2, ZrC) on oxidation resistance were compared and analyzed. The mechanism of oxidation based on experimental results and thermodynamic calculations were explored. Some approaches to improvement of oxidation resistance and future directions of UHTC are also presented.

Abstract: A theoretical model considering the distribution of the grain sizes and grain-boundary ledges was developed for cavity nucleation in creeping ceramics containing viscous grain boundary phase. The critical stress involving the effects of various shapes of cavities and viscosity coefficient (η) for cavity nucleation was presented. Then, the local stress concentration factor concerning different distributions of grain-boundary ledges was calculated and discussed. The results showed that various shapes of cavities and η are not the main influencing factors on the critical stress. The stress concentration factor increases with the increase of grain-boundary ledge size or the density. Therefore, it would be liable to cause cavity nucleation at gain boundary when the density of grain-boundary ledges is high and the size is large.