A model of morphology showed very close agreement with samples that were obtained by directional solidification. The calculation of mechanical properties was based upon an asymptotic method of averaging by Bakhvalov-Sanches and Palencia (1980). The geometry of a material (a representative cell) was accepted to be the same as for eutectic alloys, but the ratio of nano-whisker radius and cell size varied in some limits. The numerical experiment indicated a considerable increase in the values of elastic constants for nanocomposites. Fields of thermo-deformation were calculated for both real eutectic systems LaB6-MeB2 and for hypothetical nanocomposites of these systems with various volume fractions of reinforcing whiskers. The macrocomposite results were in good agreement with experimental observations, and for nanocomposites, the predicted characteristics were very attractive for the case of nano-size whisker reinforcements.

Calculation of Mechanical Properties of Hypothetic Eutectic Nanocomposites LaB6-MeB2. Galanov, B., Kartuzov, V., Kartuzov, Y., Rotmistrovsky, K.: Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 2008, 28[12], 2331-5