The Property Characterization of α-Sialon/Ni Composites Synthesized by Spark Plasma Sintering
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Mechanical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
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Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
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Center of Engineering Research, Research Institute King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
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Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Malaysia Sarawak, Sarawak 97000, Malaysia
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Informatics, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nanomaterials 2019, 9(12), 1682; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9121682
Received: 28 October 2019 / Revised: 13 November 2019 / Accepted: 18 November 2019 / Published: 25 November 2019
This study investigates the effect of micron-sized nickel particle additions on the microstructural, thermal, and mechanical property changes of α-sialon ceramic composites. The α-sialon/Ni composites were synthesized with an increasing amount of Ni (10–40 wt.%) using the spark plasma sintering technique and nanosized alpha precursors at a relatively low synthesis temperature of 1500 °C with a holding time of 30 min in each case. The density of the samples increased with the increase in Ni content of up to 15 wt.% and, with the further increase in Ni content, it became almost constant with a slight decrease. Furthermore, thermal conductivity and thermal expansion properties of Ni-sialon composites improved slightly with the inclusion of 10 wt.% Ni. The addition of Ni to α-sialon matrix resulted in a decrease in the hardness of the composites from HV10 21.6 to HV10 16.3, however the presence of Ni as a softer interfacial phase resulted in a substantial increase in the fracture toughness of these composites. Fracture toughness was found to increase by approximately 91% at 40 wt.% Ni addition.
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Keywords:
α-sialon; sialon–nickel composite; spark plasma sintering; microstructure; densification; mechanical properties; thermal properties
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MDPI and ACS Style
Adeniyi, A.S.; Ahmed, B.A.; Hakeem, A.S.; Patel, F.; Bakare, A.I.; Ul-Hamid, A.; Khan, A.A.; Ehsan, M.A.; Khan, T.I. The Property Characterization of α-Sialon/Ni Composites Synthesized by Spark Plasma Sintering. Nanomaterials 2019, 9, 1682.
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