Enhancing Toughness in Boron Carbide with Reduced Graphene Oxide

• DOI: 10.1111/jace.13943
• Publication Date: 2015-10-03T05:43:12Z
• Authors: Lixin Liu; Yuan Wang; Xuhai Li; Liang Xu; Xiuxia Cao; Yuhang Wang; Zhigang Wang; Chuanmin Meng; Wenjun Zhu; Xiaoping Ouyang
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

Ceramics typically have very high hardness, but suffer from poor toughness. Here, we use graphene to enhance the toughness of bulk boron carbide ceramics. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) platelets are homogenously dispersed with boron carbide particles after sintering at 1350°C, under high pressure of 4.5 GPa with a multi‐anvil apparatus. Fracture toughness of the composites is increased ~131% (from ~3.79 to ~8.76 MPa·m1/2) at 1.5 vol% rGO platelets as a result of a toughing effect of graphene along with a little sacrificing of the hardness and elastic modulus, compared with those of pure boron carbide. The remarkably enhanced fracture toughness in the boron carbide ceramics is associated with graphene sheets crack bridging and graphene interface sliding effect. This study holds much significance for the understanding and development of high‐performance graphene reinforcing ceramics.