Ceramic nanowelding

Liqiang Zhang,Tongde Shen,Yongfeng Li,Jianyu Huang,Tingting Yang,Yushu Tang,Qiuming Peng,Yuecun Wang,Fan Yang,Lishan Cui,Congcong Du,Zhiwei Shan,Qiunan Liu,Yong Sun

doi:10.1038/s41467-017-02590-1

Abstract

Ceramics possess high temperature resistance, extreme hardness, high chemical inertness and a lower density compared to metals, but there is currently no technology that can produce satisfactory joints in ceramic parts and preserve the excellent properties of the material. The lack of suitable joining techniques for ceramics is thus a major road block for their wider applications. Herein we report a technology to weld ceramic nanowires, with the mechanical strength of the weld stronger than that of the pristine nanowires. Using an advanced aberration-corrected environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM) under a CO2 environment, we achieved ceramic nanowelding through the chemical reaction MgO + CO2 → MgCO3 by using porous MgO as the solder. We conducted not only nanowelding on MgO, CuO, and V2O5 nanowires and successfully tested them in tension, but also macroscopic welding on a ceramic material such as SiO2, indicating the application potential of this technology in bottom-up ceramic tools and devices.

Highlights

Ceramics possess high temperature resistance, extreme hardness, high chemical inertness and a lower density compared to metals, but there is currently no technology that can produce satisfactory joints in ceramic parts and preserve the excellent properties of the material
Ceramic nanomaterials can only be welded by depositing metal Pt, Au, Sn on the junction through heating or focused ion beam (FIB)[17], which is expensive and complex, and contaminates and even damages the sample during the welding process[18]
It was recently found that electron or plasma irradiation can promote a chemical conversion of CO221, 22, which inspired us to explore the possibility of using the electron beam (e-beam) to stimulate the MgO and CO2 reaction for ceramic nanowelding applications

Summary

Introduction

Ceramics possess high temperature resistance, extreme hardness, high chemical inertness and a lower density compared to metals, but there is currently no technology that can produce satisfactory joints in ceramic parts and preserve the excellent properties of the material. An ideal welding technique usually selects the same type of material as the solder, which can preserve its original properties and morphology without causing compatibility problems. This goal is hard to achieve for ceramic welding given the high melting point and good insulation of ceramic materials. The irradiated area becomes fluidic with gas bubbles erupting violently and continuously, mimicking the boiling of viscous gels By using this technique, we welded MgO, CuO, and V2O5 nanowires in the ETEM and carried out successful in situ tensile tests on these nanowires. To test the quality of the welding, we pulled the nanowire backward and found that the nanowire broke near the right contact rather than from the welding joint (Fig. 2c), proving that the tensile strength of the weld is greater than that of the pristine MgO nanowire

Methods

Results

Conclusion