Abstract
The SiC–Ti3SiC2–TiB2 composites herein were prepared in situ by reactive melt infiltration (RMI). The synergy mechanism between Ti3SiC2 and TiB2 on fracture toughness of SiC matrix was investigated. The phase composition and microstructure of SiC–Ti3SiC2–TiB2 composites were studied, and their mechanical properties, such as Vickers hardness, elastic modulus and indent fracture toughness, were compared to those of SiC ceramics and SiC–Ti3SiC2 composites. The crack propagation of SiC–Ti3SiC2–TiB2 composites was simulated via Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM), and the fracture behavior in laminated Ti3SiC2 grains was also evaluated. The results show that SiC–Ti3SiC2–TiB2 composites exhibit an indentation fracture toughness of 9.57 MPa m1/2, which is greatly higher than that of SiC ceramics and SiC–Ti3SiC2 composites. It was suggested that the main toughening mechanisms of lamellar Ti3SiC2 grains and columnar TiB2 grains are crack deflection, crack bridging, grain fracture, delamination and grain pull-out.
Graphic abstract
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
J. Jiao, M.W. Chen, New generation of high-temperature material for engine-preparation, property and application of ceramic matrix composites. Aero. Manuf. Technol. 451(7), 62–69 (2014)
K. Rivera, J. Rhoat, T. Muth, O.J. Gregory, M. Ricci, Novel temperature sensors for SiC-SiC CMC engine components. J. Mater. Res. 32(17), 1–7 (2021)
M. Singh, D.R. Behrendt, Reactive melt infiltration of silicon-niobium alloys in microporous carbons. J. Mater. Res. 9(7), 1701–1708 (1994)
T. El-Raghy, M.W. Barsoum, Processing and mechanical properties of Ti3SiC2: part I, reaction path and microstructure evolution. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 82, 2849–2854 (1999)
M.W. Barsoum, T. El-Raghy, The MAX phases: unique new carbide and nitride materials. J. Am. Sci. 89, 334–343 (2001)
H.B. Zhang, Y.C. Zhou, Y.W. Bao, M.S. Li, Abnormal thermal shock behavior of Ti3SiC2 and Ti3AlC2. J. Mater. Res. 21, 2401–2407 (2006)
X.W. Yin, S.S. He, L.T. Zhang, S.W. Fan, L.F. Cheng, G.L. Tian, T. Li, Fabrication and characterization of a carbon fibre reinforced carbon-silicon carbide-titanium silicon carbide hybrid matrix composite. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 527, 835–841 (2010)
O. Yaghobizadeh, A. Sedghi, H.R. Baharvandi, Introduction of nano-laminate Ti3SiC2 and SiC phases into Cf-C composite by liquid silicon infiltration method. Metall. Mater. Eng. 23(1), 21–30 (2017)
R. Radhakrishnan, C.H. Henager, J.L. Brimhall, S.B. Bhaduri, Synthesis of Ti3SiC2/SiC and TiSi2/SiC composites using displacement reactions in the Ti-Si-C system. Scr. Mater. 34(12), 1809–1814 (1996)
S.B. Li, J.X. **e, L.T. Zhang, L.F. Cheng, In situ synthesis of Ti3SiC2/SiC composite by displacement reaction of Si and TiC. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 381(1/2), 51–56 (2004)
G.L. Zhao, C.Z. Huang, H.L. Liu, B. Zhou, H.T. Zhu, J. Wang, A study on in-situ synthesis of TiB2-SiC ceramic composites by reactive hot pressing. Ceram. Int. 40, 2305–2313 (2014)
C. Zhu, L. Feng, B. Xu, Q. Lin, G. He, Preparation of ultra-high temperature SiC-TiB2 nanocomposites from a single-source polymer precursor. Ceram. Int. 46(12), 19928–19934 (2020)
G.B. Chen, Z. Wang, Z.J. Wu, Investigation and characterization of densification, processing and mechanical properties of TiB2-SiC ceramics. Mater. Des. 64, 9–14 (2014)
X. Cao, M. Ma, X. Ma, C. Wang, J. Wu, Microstructures and mechanical properties of in-situ SiC-TiB2 ceramic composites fabricated by reactive melt infiltration. J. Alloys Compd. 840, 155734 (2020)
D. Bucevac, V. Krstic, Microstructure-mechanical properties relations in SiC-TiB2 composite. Mater. Chem. Phys. 133, 197–204 (2012)
K. Song, J. Yang, T. Qiu, L.M. Pan, In situ synthesis of (TiB2+SiC)/Ti3SiC2 composites by hot pressing. Mater. Lett. 75, 16–19 (2012)
W.J. Zou, F.Z. Li, H.B. Zhang, J. Yang, S.M. Peng, T. Qiu, Microstructure and mechanical properties of in-situ hot pressed (TiB2+SiC)/Ti3SiC2 composites with tunable TiB2 content. Adv. Appl. Ceram. 115(5), 1743–6761 (2016)
M.W. Barsoum, M. Radovic, Elastic and mechanical properties of the MAX phases. Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 41, 195–227 (2011)
X.M. Fan, X.W. Yin, Microstructure and properties of carbon fiber reinforced SiC matrix composites containing Ti3SiC2. Adv. Eng. Mater. 16(6), 670–683 (2014)
N. Moёs, J. Dolbow, T. Belytschko, A finite element method for crack growth without remeshing. Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 46, 131–150 (1999)
A. Entezari, S.I. Roohani-Esfahani, Z. Zhang, Fracture behaviors of ceramic tissue scaffolds for load bearing applications. Sci. Rep. 6, 28816 (2016)
Z.H. Teng, F. Sun, S.C. Wu, Z.B. Zhang, T. Chen, D.M. Liao, An adaptively refined XFEM with virtual node polygonal elements for dynamic crack problems. Comput. Mech. 62, 1087–1106 (2018)
V. Sonkar, S. Bhattacharya, K. Sharma, XFEM simulation of an edge cracked 3D functionally graded cuboid. AIP Conference Proceedings 2220(1) (2020)
Z.H. Teng, D.M. Liao, S.C. Wu, F. Sun, T. Chen, Z.B. Zhang, An adaptively refined XFEM for the dynamic fracture problems with micro-defects. Theor. Appl. Frac. Mech. 103, 102255 (2019)
R.U. Patil, B.K. Mishra, I.V. Singh, A multiscale framework based on phase field method and XFEM to simulate fracture in highly heterogeneous materials. Theor. Appl. Fract. Mech. 100, 390–415 (2019)
H. Miyazaki, H. Hyuga, Y.I. Yoshizawa, K. Hirao, T. Ohji, Relationship between fracture toughness determined by surface crack in flexure and fracture resistance measured by indentation fracture for silicon nitride ceramics with various microstructures. Ceram. Int. 35(1), 493–501 (2009)
E.D. Wu, E.H. Kisi, D.P. Riley, R.I. Smith, Intermediate phases in Ti3SiC2 synthesis from Ti/SiC/C mixtures studied by time-resolved neutron diffraction. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 85(12), 3084–3086 (2002)
Y.I. Jung, D.J. Park, J.H. Park, J.Y. Park, H.G. Kim, Y.H. Koo, Effect of TiSi2/Ti3SiC2, matrix phases in a reaction-bonded SiC on mechanical and high-temperature oxidation properties. J. Eur. Ceram. Soc. 36(6), 1343–1348 (2016)
H. Dong, S. Li, Y. Teng, W. Ma, Joining of SiC ceramic-based materials with ternary carbide Ti3SiC2. Mater. Sci. Eng. B 176(1), 60–64 (2011)
S.P. Yin, Z.H. Zhang, X.W. Cheng, T.J. Su, Z.Y. Hu, Q. Song, H. Wang, Spark plasma sintering of B4C-TiB2-SiC composite ceramics using B4C, Ti3SiC2 and Si as sintering materials. Ceram. Int. 44, 21626–21632 (2018)
Z.X. Zhang, C.J. Xu, X.W. Du, Z.L. Li, J.L. Wang, W.H. **ng, Y. Sheng, W.M. Wang, Z.Y. Fu, Synthesis mechanism and mechanical properties of TiB2-SiC composites fabricated with the B4C–TiC–Si system by reactive hot pressing. J. Alloys Comp. 619, 26–30 (2015)
G. Gorny, M. Raczka, L. Stobierski, Ceramic composite Ti3SiC2-TiB2 microstructure and mechanical properties. Mater. Char. 60, 1168–1174 (2009)
B.Y. Islak, D. Candar, Synthesis and properties of TiB2/Ti3SiC2 composites. Ceram. Int. 46(1), 1439–1446 (2020)
B.J. Kooi, R.J. Poppen, N.J.M. Carvalho, JTh.M. De Hosson, M.W. Barsoum, Ti3SiC2: a damage tolerant ceramic studied with nanoindentations and transmission electron microscopy. Acta. Mater. 51, 2859–2872 (2003)
Y.R. Zhou, J. Jian, J.H. Yang, X.X. Lv, Z.Y. Jiang, R. Yang, H. Liu, Y. Gao, Growth of lamellar Ti3SiC2 in SiC matrix by the reaction of Si melt with C-TiC preform. Mater. Chem. Phys. 267, 124665 (2021)
J. Lankford, D.L. Davidson, Indentation plasticity and microfracture in silicon carbide. J. Mater. Sci. 14(7), 1669–1675 (1979)
X. Chen, G. Bei, Toughening mechanisms in nanolayered MAX phase ceramics-A review. Materials 10(4), 366 (2017)
N.A. Abdullah, J.L. Curiel-Sosa, Z.A. Taylor, B. Tafazzolimoghaddam, J.L. Martinez Vicente, C. Zhang, Transversal crack and delamination of laminates using XFEM. Compos. Struct. 173, 78–85 (2017)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
There are no conflicts to declare.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhou, Y.R., Jiao, J., Jiang, Z.Y. et al. Toughening mechanisms of Ti3SiC2- and TiB2- toughened SiC matrix prepared via reactive melt infiltration. Journal of Materials Research 36, 4963–4973 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-021-00402-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-021-00402-3