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ABSTRACT MICROWAVE SINTERING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ALUMINA AND ALUMINA MATRIX CERAMIC NANOCOMPOSITES Kayiplar, Burcu M.S., Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Arcan F. Dericioglu April 2010, 106 pages Efficiency of microwave heating on the sintering of ceramic materials has been investigated in comparison to conventional processing. Monolithic alumina with or without sintering additives such as MgO, CaO, Y2O3 were fabricated by both conventional and microwave sintering at temperatures ranging from 1000&deg / C to 1600&deg / C with a constant soaking time of 1 hour. Based on the densification results on monolithic alumina, nanometer-sized SiC or stabilized ZrO2 particle-dispersed alumina matrix ceramic nanocomposites were sintered by both methods at 1300&deg / C and 1500&deg / C for 1 hour. Sintered ceramic materials were characterized in terms of densification, microstructural evolution, chemical composition and mechanical properties such as hardness and indentation fracture toughness. Microwave sintering was determined to be a remarkably effective method in the production of Al2O3 ceramics at considerably low temperatures (&amp / #8804 / 1400&deg / C) compared to conventional sintering in achieving enhanced relative densities reaching to ~97% with improved microstructural characteristics and mechanical properties. Usage of sintering additives at temperatures higher than 1400&deg / C was determined to be effective in densifiying Al2O3 by both methods. Second phase particle incorporation yielded poor densification resulting in a decrease of hardness of the fabricated ceramic nanocomposites / however, their fracture toughness improved considerably caused by the crack deflection at the dispersed particles and grain boundaries reaching to ~4 MPa&middot / m1/2 in the case of SiC particledispersed nanocomposites. Compared to conventional sintering, microwave sintering is more effective in the processing of alumina and alumina matrix nanocomposites leading to similar densification values along with improved microstructural and mechanical characteristics at lower temperatures in shorter soaking periods.

With the recent development of in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization techniques, the real time study of property-structure correlations in nanomaterials becomes possible. This dissertation reports the direct observations of deformation behavior of Al2O3-ZrO2-MgAl2O4 (AZM) bulk ceramic nanocomposites, strengthening mechanism of twins in YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) thin film, work hardening event in nanocrystalline nickel and deformation of 2wt% Al doped ZnO (AZO) thin film with nanorod structures using the in situ TEM nanoindentation tool. The combined in situ movies with quantitative loading-unloading curves reveal the deformation mechanism of the above nanomaterial systems. At room temperature, in situ dynamic deformation studies show that the AZM nanocomposites undergo the deformation mainly through the grain-boundary sliding and rotation of small grains, i.e., ZrO2 grains, and some of the large grains, i.e., MgAl2O4 grains. We observed both plastic and elastic deformations in different sample regions in these multi-phase ceramic nanocomposites at room temperature. Both ex situ (conventional) and in situ nanoindentation were conducted to reveal the deformation of YBCO films from the directions perpendicular and parallel to the twin interfaces. Hardness measured perpendicular to twin interfaces is ~50% and 40% higher than that measured parallel to twin interfaces, by ex situ and in situ, respectively. By using an in situ nanoindentation tool inside TEM, dynamic work hardening event in nanocrystalline nickel was directly observed. During stain hardening stage, abundant Lomer-Cottrell (L-C) locks formed both within nanograins and against twin boundaries. Two major mechanisms were identified during interactions between L-C locks and twin boundaries. Quantitative nanoindentation experiments recorded during in situ experiments show an increase of yield strength from 1.64 to 2.29 GPa during multiple loading-unloading cycles. In situ TEM nanoindentation has been conducted to explore the size dependent deformation behavior of two different types (type I: ~ 0.51 of width/length ratio and type II: ~ 088 ratio) of AZO nanorods. During the indentation on type I nanord structure, annihilation of defects has been observed which is caused by limitation of the defect activities by relatively small size of the width. On the other hand, type II nanorod shows dislocation activities which enhanced the grain rotation under the external force applied on more isotropic direction through type II nanorod.

[pt] O principal objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a evolução microestrutural de dois tipos de nanocompósitos metal/cerâmico: Cu-10(por cento)Ni-1(por cento)Al2O3 (Cu-rich) e Ni-10(por cento)Cu-1(por cento)Al2O3 (Ni-rich) consolidadas em forma de fitas. A obtenção de nanoparticulas precursoras às fitas se deu por uma rota química, (que compreende a decomposição térmica de nitratos metálicos, originando óxidos coformados (CuO-NiO-Al2O3), seguido da redução seletiva destes por hidrogênio). O pó constituído de nanopartículas metálicas CuNi de 20nm a 100nm, com dispersão de nanopartículas ainda mais finas de Al2O3, foi submetido a pressão uniaxial a frio, em forma de pastilhas, e posteriormente sinterizado por 30 minutos. As pastilhas foram laminadas a frio com redução de espessura em 40, 60 e 80 por cento. As fitas assim produzidas foram recozidas a 600 graus Celsius nas amostras Cu-rich e a 900 graus Celsius nas Ni-rich, durante 5, 30 e 300 minutos, gerando diferentes estados microestruturais em virtude de fenômenos de recuperação, recristalização e crescimento de grão, na presença do Al2O3 na matriz metálica. O estudo detalhado da evolução microestrutural foi realizado por Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura, Feixe de Íons Focalizado e Microscopia Eletrônica de Transmissão (MET), nos modos convencional e transmissão varredura (STEM), e em alta resolução (HRTEM). Tanto no MEV como no MET/STEM analises composicionais foram sistematicamente conduzidas por espectroscopia de dispersão de energia característica de raios x (EDXS). A preparação das amostras para MEV foi realizada por metodos metalogarficos convencionais e também submetidas a polimento por feixe de íons no instrumento MEV/FIB, quando necessário. As amostras transparentes ao feixe de elétrons para MET foram preparadas por métodos eletrolíticos convencionais e seletivos como o denominado jato duplo, assim como por feixe de íons no instrumento de precisão (PIPS) e em regiões especificas selecionadas extraindo lamelas através do FIB. Foi observado que as partículas cerâmicas não se dispersam homogeneamente na matriz metálica policristalina, mas se auto segregam em finos aglomerados seguindo o sentido da laminação e servindo como sítios preferenciais para a nucleação heterogênea de novos grãos, durante o fenômeno de recristalização no recozimento. Observa-se que nos lugares que o Al2O3 está presente o tamanho de grão, TG, é bem menor quando comparado com os lugares em ausência de Al2O3. De fato, observou-se sistematicamente que, principalmente nas amostras com alto grão de deformação ocorreram recristalização e crescimento de grão, gerando microestruturas bastante heterogêneas em quanto ao tamanho de grão, dando lugar a regiões da mostra com TG variando de 10nm a 100nm e regiões vizinhas na amostra com TG entre 1 um e 10 um. Medidas de microdureza comprovaram que as nanopartículas de Al2O3 agem como eficiente reforço, pois aumentou em até 100 porcento a dureza do material, quando comparado ao mesmo sem Al2O3. / [en] In this work it is evaluated the microstructural evolution of two types of metal/ceramic nanocomposites, Cu-10(percent)wt(percent)Ni-1(percent)Al2O3 (Cu-rich) and Ni-10Cu-1(percent)Al2O3 (Ni-rich), consolidated in ribbons. Initially, the precursor nanoparticles were obtained by a chemical route synthesis based on the thermal decomposition of Cu and Ni metal nitrates solution, as it generates co-formed oxides (CuO-NiOAl2O3). This material was selectively reduced by hydrogen in order to produce the nanocomposites. The CuNi matrix with particle size of about 20-100 nm containing a dispersion of even finer Al2O3 was uniaxially cold pressed into pellets and then aggregated by heating for 30 minutes. The treated pellets were cold rolled aiming a thickness reduction of 40, 60 and 80 (percent). The produced ribbons were then annealed at 600 degrees Celsius for Cu-rich samples and at 900 degrees Celsius for Nirich samples for periods of 5, 30 and 300 minutes. This step has produced different microstructural states due to phenomena of recovery, recrystallization and grain growth. The microstructural analysis was performed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (MEV), Focused Ion Beam (FIB), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (MET). All of the studies included the conventional and scanning (STEM) modes and high resolution (HRTEM). Particularly, the SEM and TEM / STEM compositional analyzes were conducted by x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDXS). The preparation of the samples for MEV was performed by conventional metallography, if required, the samples were subject to ion beam polishing in the MEV / FIB instrument. Electron transparent samples were prepared by conventional double jet electropolishing of thin foils, ion milling in precision instrument (PIPS) as well as selected lamellae prepared by Focus Ion Beam (FIB).These studies indicate that the ceramic particles are not homogeneously disperse in the polycrystalline metal matrix, but they selfsegregate in fine agglomerates following the direction of the cold rolled, and serve as preferential sites for the heterogeneous nucleation of new grains, due to recrystallization phenomenon, during annealing. It has also been observed that in the regions with the presence of Al2O3 the grain size of the nanoparticles is smaller. Actually, in the samples with high grain of deformation, recrystallization and grain growth occurred, generating highly heterogeneous size for the microstructures (range about 50nm to 10um). Microhardness measurements have showed that Al2O3 is a good reinforcement, as it increased the hardness of the material by up to 100 percent when compared with the same material without Al2O3.