Flexible Ceramic Thin Film
Multifunctional materials demonstrate a combination of functionality, adaptability and survivability for a variety of engineered applications. We have developed one kind of novel multifunctional ceramic composites which is reinforced with a high volume fraction (60%) of aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Unique material properties are listed as:
- Material composition: 60 vol.% of CNT and 40 vol.% of SiCN
- High surviving temperature: up to 1000 Celsius degree
- Sustainability in harsh environment: oxidation, hot-corrosion environment, water vapor and acid fume.
- Flexibility: can be bent to 100% of the original length and the flexibility testing can be repeated for 1000 times without any crack or performance degradation.
- Low density: 2.1 g·cm-3
- thermal conductivity in room temperature:
- in-plane: 7.2 W/(m·K))
- through-thickness: 2.0 W/(m·K))
- In-plane electrical conductivity: 3.22×10e6 S/m
- Tensile strength: 538 MPa
- Young’s modulus: 118 GPa
With such unique multifunctional properties, the material can be used for stringent harsh environments, such as liquid-fueled rocket engine combustion devices (thrust chambers and nozzles), aircraft brakes, etc.. It can also be suitable for surface coatings on curved surface on hypersonic vehicles for thermal management.
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Figure 1. Surface SEM images of the flexible multifunctional ceramic composites in different magnifications. |
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Figure 2. Cross-sectional SEM images of the flexible multifunctional ceramic composites in different magnifications. |
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Figure 3. (a) Flexibility test of the multifunctional ceramic composite thin film. The sample can be bent with two ends touching each other; (b) Tensile strength comparison under flexibility test. |
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Figure 4. (a) Experimental demonstration of the electrically-conductive ceramic composites; (b) Comparison of the mechanical and electrical properties of the flexible multifunctional ceramic composites (this study) with other representative CNT-reinforced ceramic composites. |