Although ceramics have many advantages when compared to metals in specific applications, they could be more widely applied if their low properties (fracture toughness, strength, and electrical and thermal conductivities) are improved. Reinforcing ceramics by two nano-phases that have different morphologies and/or properties, called the hybrid microstructure design, has been implemented to develop hybrid ceramic nanocomposites with tailored nanostructures, improved mechanical properties, and enhanced functionalities. The use of the novel spark plasma sintering (SPS) process allowed for the sintering of hybrid ceramic nanocomposite materials to maintain high relative density while also preserving the small grain size of the matrix. As a result, hybrid nanocomposite materials that have better mechanical and functional properties than those of either conventional composites or nanocomposites were produced. The development of hybrid ceramic nanocomposites is in its early stage and it is expected to continue attracting the interest of the scientific community. In the present paper, the progress made in the development of alumina hybrid nanocomposites, using spark plasma sintering, and their properties are reviewed. In addition, the current challenges and potential applications are highlighted. Finally, future prospects for developing alumina hybrid nanocomposites that have better performance are set.
In this work, we report temperature-dependent thermal properties of alumina powder and bulk alumina consolidated by spark plasma sintering method. The properties were measured between room temperature and 250 ºC using a thermal constants analyzer. Alumina powder had very low thermal properties due to the presence of large pores and absence of bonding between its particles. Fully dense alumina with a relative density of 99.6 % was obtained at a sintering temperature of 1400 °C and a holding time of 10 min. Thermal properties were found to mainly dependent on density. Thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and specific heat of the fully dense alumina were 34.44 W/mK, 7.62 mm 2 s -1 , and 1.22 J/gK, respectively, at room temperature. Thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity decreased while specific heat increased with the increase in temperature from room temperature to 250 ºC.
In the current work, an improved model to estimate the thermal conductivity of spark plasma sintered nanocomposites is presented. In the developed model, the thermal conductivity of the matrix was modeled as a function of the average matrix crystallite size rather than taking a constant matrix thermal conductivity. The model has been validated against experimentally measured thermal conductivity of Al 2 O 3-SiC-CNT hybrid nanocomposites. Using the experimental and modeling results, it was shown that the addition of SiC and CNT inclusions to alumina resulted in a decrease in its thermal conductivity. The main reason for this decrease was found to be the reduction in the thermal conductivity of the alumina matrix itself because of the reduction in the crystallite size. Additional reduction in the composite thermal conductivity was due to the matrix-inclusion interface resistance and porosity. The predicted and measured thermal conductivities were found to be in good agreement.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.