• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.186-191
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• 2001

Several fabrication processes, corresponding nanostructural features and multifunctionality as well has been investigated for oxide ceramic based nanocomposites with metal nanodispersion (i.e., ceramic/metal nanocomposites). Transition metal (Ni, Co, etc) dispersed alumina and zirconia based nanocomposites have been synthesized by reducing and hot-press sintering of ceramic and metal oxide mixtures prepared by several method. Improved fracture strength (1.1 and 1.9 GPa for $Al_2O_3/Ni$ and $ZrO_2/Ni$ nanocomposites, respectively) of these composites have been achieved according to their nanostructures. In addition, ferromagnetic characteristic has been kept. The variation of magnetization with an applied stress has found to be more sensitive as smaller as the magnetic metal dispersion is. This result thus suggests the possibility of fracture and/or stress sensing of the composites by simple magnetic measurement.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.395-399
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• 1999

MgO/metal nanocomposite powder mixtures were prepared by solution chemical processes to obtain suitable structure for ceramic/metal nanocomposites. Nickel or cobalt nitrate, as a source of metal dispersion, was dissolved into alcohol and mixed with magnesia powder. After calcined in air, these powders were reduced by hydrogen. Densified nanocomposites were successively obtained by Pulse Electric Current Sintering (PECS) process. The dispersed metal partical size depended on temperature and time in calcination and reduction processes. The phase analyses in the synthesized powders as a functioni of temperature were tracked using a dynamic high temperature X-ray diffractioni (HTXRD) system. Phase and crystallite size analyses were done using X-ray diffractioni and TEM. The MgO/metal nanocomposites were successfully fabricated, and ferromagnetic responses with enhanced coercive force were also investigated for these composites.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.503-507
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• 2005

Microstructure and wear behavior of A1203-based nanocomposites with Cu and Ni-Co dispersions were investigated. $Al_2O_3/Cu$ and $Al_2O_3/Ni-Co$ nanocomposites were fabricated by hydrogen reduction and sintering method using metal oxide and metal nitrates. The nanocomposites showed increased mechanical properties compared with monolithic $Al_2O_3$. In particular, high toughness and hardness were measured for the $Al_2O_3/Ni-Co$ nanocomposite consolidated by spark plasma sintering. A minimum value of wear coefficient comparable to the monolithic $Al_2O_3$ was obtained for $Al_2O_3/Ni-Co$ nanocomposite. Wear behavior is discussed in terms of microstructure and mechanical properties of nanocomposites

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 1996.11a
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• pp.6-6
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• 1996

Ceramic based nanocomposite, in which nano-sized ceramics and metals were dispersed within matrix grains and/or at grain boundaries, were successfully fabricated in the ceramic/cerarnic and ceramic/metal composite systems such as $Al_2O_3$/SiC, $Al_2O_3$/$Si_3N_4$, MgO/SiC, mullite/SiC, $Si_3N_4/SiC, $Si_3N_4$/B, $Al_2O_3$/W, $Al_2O_3$/Mo, $Al_2O_3$/Ni and $ZrO_2$/Mo systems. In these systems, the ceramiclceramic composites were fabricated from homogeneously mixed powders, powders with thin coatings of the second phases and amorphous precursor composite powders by usual powder metallurgical methods. The ceramiclmetal nanocomposites were prepared by combination of H2 reduction of metal oxides in the early stage of sinterings and usual powder metallurgical processes. The transmission electron microscopic observation for the $Al_2O_3$/SiC nanocomposite indicated that the second phases less than 70nm were mainly located within matrix grains and the larger particles were dispersed at the grain boundaries. The similar observation was also identified for other cerarnic/ceramic and ceramiclmetal nanocornposites. The striking findings in these nanocomposites were that mechanical properties were significantly improved by the nano-sized dispersion from 5 to 10 vol% even at high temperatures. For example, the improvement in hcture strength by 2 to 5 times and in creep resistance by 2 to 4 orders was observed not only for the ceramidceramic nanocomposites but also for the ceramiclmetal nanocomposites with only 5~01%se cond phase. The newly developed silicon nitride/boron nitride nanocomposites, in which nano-sized hexagonal BN particulates with low Young's modulus and fracture strength were dispersed mainly within matrix grains, gave also the strong improvement in fracture strength and thermal shock fracture resistance. In presentation, the process-rnicro/nanostructure-properties relationship will be presented in detail. The special emphasis will be placed on the understanding of the roles of nano-sized dispersions on mechanical properties.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.469-477
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• 2016

The application of nanomaterials for electrodes of intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) is introduced. In conventional SOFCs, the operating temperature is higher than 1073 K, and so application of nanomaterials is not suitable because of the high degradation rate that results from sintering, aggregation, or reactions. However, by allowing a decrease of the operating temperature, nanomaterials are attracting much interest. In this review, nanocomposite films with columnar morphology, called double columnar or vertically aligned nanocomposites and prepared by pulsed laser ablation method, are introduced. For anodes, metal nano particles prepared by exsolution from perovskite lattice are also applied. By using dissolution and exsolution into and from the perovskite matrix, performed by changing $P_{O2}$ in the gas phase at each interval, recovery of the power density can be achieved by keeping the metal particle size small. Therefore, it is expected that the application of nanomaterials will become more popular in future SOFC development.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.9-10
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• 1997

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.39 no.8
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• pp.769-774
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• 2002

The powder mixture in which Fe-Ni alloy particles of 20 nm were homogeneously dispersed on $Al_2O_3$ particle surfaces was prepared by hydrogen reduction of $Al_2O_3$ and metal oxide powders. $Al_2O_3$/Fe-Ni nanocomposites fabricated by pressureless sintering were only composed of $Al_2O_3$ and ${gamma}$-Fe-Ni phases and achieved over 98% of the theoretical density at the sintering temperature above $1350^{\circ}C$. The highest strength and toughness of the composites were 574 MPa and 3.9 MP$a{\cdot}m1/2$, respectively. These values were about 20% higher than these of monolithic $Al_2O_3$ sintered at the same conditions. Nanocomposites showed ferromagnetic properties and coercive force was increased with decrease of the average particle size of dispersions.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.225-228
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• 2009

The processing and characterization of ceramic nanocomposites, which produce bulk nanostructures with attractive mechanical properties, have been emphasized and introduced at Prof. Mukherjee's Lab at UC Davis. The following subjects will be introduced in detail in Part II, III, and IV. In Part II, the paper will describe a three-phase alumina-based nanoceramic composite demonstrating superplasticity at a surprisingly lower temperature and higher strain rate. The next part will show that an alumina-carbon nanotube-niobium nanocomposite produced fracture toughness values that are three times higher than that of pure nanocrystalline alumina. It was possible to take advantage of both fiber-toughening and ductile-metal toughening in this investigation. In the fourth section, discussed will be a silicon-nitride/silicon-carbide nanocomposite, produced by pyrolysis of liquid polymer precursors, demonstrating one of the lowest creep rates reported so far in ceramics at the comparable temperature of $1400^{\circ}C$. This was first achieved by avoiding the oxynitride glass phase at the intergrain boundaries. One important factor in the processing of these nanocomposites was the use of the electrical field assisted sintering method. This allowed the sintering to be completed at significantly lower temperatures and during much shorter times. These improvements in mechanical properties will be discussed in the context of the results from the microstructural investigations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.261-264
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• 2005

Since the first discovery of carbon nanotube (CNT) in 1991, a window to new technological areas has been opened. One of the emerging applications of CNTs is the reinforcement of composite materials to overcome the performance limits of conventional materials. However, because of the difficulties in distributing CNTs homogeneously in metal or ceramic matrix by means of traditional composite processes, it has been doubted whether CNTs can really reinforce metals or ceramics. In this study, CNT reinforced Cu matrix nanocomposite is fabricated by a novel fabrication process named molecular level mixing process. This process produces CNT/Cu composite powders whereby the CNTs are homogeneously implanted within Cu powders. The CNT/Cu nanocomposite, consolidated by spark plasma sintering of CNT/Cu composite powders, shows to be 3 times higher strength and 2 times higher Young’s modulus than Cu matrix. This extra-ordinary strengthening effect of carbon nanotubes in metal is higher than that of any other reinforcement ever used for metal matrix composites.

• Ceramist
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.49-58
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• 2018

Metal oxide based materials have been widely used to fields of electrochemical applications. Recently, various type of defects from microstructures of metal oxides and their nanocomposites have been raised as the important material design factors for realizing highly improved electrochemical properties. Previous experimental and theoretical works have suggested that controlling the reaction activity and kinetics of the key electrochemical reactions by activated interfaces originating from the defect sites can play an important role in achieving the robust energy storage and conversion. Therefore, this paper focuses on the role of defect-controlled metal oxide materials such as doping, edge-sites, grain boundaries and nano-sized pores for the high performances in energy storage devices and electrocatalysts. The research approaches demonstrated here could offer a possible route to obtain noble ideas for designing the metal oxide materials for the energy storage and conversion applications.