A pinning effect for the enhanced oxidation resistance at 1600 °C of silicoboron carbonitride ceramics with the addition of MXene

Abstract

MXenes with lots of attractive mechanical and physicochemical properties have great potential in various applications. However, no mention has been made of the high-temperature properties of structural ceramics with MXenes, let alone silicoboron carbonitride (Si-B-C-N) composite ceramics over 1500 °C. The influences of MXene(Ti3C2Tx) additives on the oxidation resistance of Si-B-C-N ceramics were investigated at temperatures up to 1600 °C here for the first time. Dense, adherent scales are formed on surfaces of the oxidized ceramics at 1100 °C, and the thicknesses of scales present an overall decrease with the increased addition of Ti3C2Tx. The addition of 3.0 wt% Ti3C2Tx can improve the oxidation resistance at 1600 °C due to the pinning effect of rod-like TiO2 grains mostly buried in SiO2 scales, while less addition could probably deteriorate the anti-oxidation properties. The development of Si-B-C-N composite ceramics demonstrates that MXenes are promising additives for improving high-temperature antioxidant properties of multicomponent silicon-based ceramics at least.