Ceramic materials are used as refractories, cutting tools, and electronic devices and components in the industrial, information technology, and aerospace fields. However, the brittleness of ceramics still limits their range of applications compared to metals and alloys. The brittleness of ceramics arises from their poor plastic deformability due to the difficulty of dislocation generation and glide. In the present study, a eutectic material in which a number of fine, rod-like gadolinium-aluminum perovskite (GdAlO3; GAP) crystals with a diameter of about 100 nm are aligned within Al2O3 crystal has been produced by the rapid solidification of Al2O3 and Gd2O3 melts. Micro-pillar compression tests at room temperature revealed that the Al2O3-GAP eutectic material exhibits plastic deformation without fracture, while the Al2O3 and GAP single-crystals show brittle fracture. Transmission electron microscopy observation indicated that dislocation glide in Al2O3 was activated in the eutectic materials. This result points out for the first time the possibility that controlling the eutectic microstructure can enhance the plastic deformability of hard, brittle ceramic materials by promoting the dislocation movement.
Papers
Journal: Nature Communications
Title: Overcoming the intrinsic brittleness of high-strength Al2O3–GdAlO3 ceramics through refined eutectic microstructure
Authors: Yuta Aoki, Hiroshi Masuda, Eita Tochigi, Hidehiro Yoshida*
