Abstract
In the present study, graphite/alumina composites are fabricated via reductive sintering of gel-casted green bodies with structurally controlled cross-linked epoxy polymers for the first time. The cross-linking degrees of polymers are tuned by the amount ratio of epoxy monomer/polyvinyl alcohol cross-linker utilized in gel-casting process. Superior electrical properties with respect to 5-fold enhanced electrical conductivity and 2-fold higher carrier mobility are successfully achieved in graphite/alumina composite fabricated from cross-linked epoxy polymer, whose phenomenon is attributed to the excellent conductive path in ceramic matrix established by highly uniform network with improved graphitization degree.
Highlights
IntroductionNano-carbon/ceramic composites have attracted much attention due to higher electrical [1,2,3,4,5,6], thermal [7,8], and mechanical [9,10] properties than monolithic ceramics, and are the promising materials for electromagnetic interference shielding [1,2,3], lithium-ion battery [4,5,6], heat transfer, thermal energy storage [7,8], ballistic armor [9], and cutting tools [10]
The nano-carbon/alumina composite was fabricated by gel-casting and reductive sintering described as the following process, where bare polymer was prepared as reference sample
Graphite/alumina composites were fabricated by gel-casting and reductive sintering, where the structure of polymer generated in gelation was controlled by altering the amount ratio of epoxy monomer/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)
Summary
Nano-carbon/ceramic composites have attracted much attention due to higher electrical [1,2,3,4,5,6], thermal [7,8], and mechanical [9,10] properties than monolithic ceramics, and are the promising materials for electromagnetic interference shielding [1,2,3], lithium-ion battery [4,5,6], heat transfer, thermal energy storage [7,8], ballistic armor [9], and cutting tools [10]. To overcome the drawbacks as mentioned in above conventional process, we have previously reported a novel fabrication process of nano-carbon/alumina composite via recombined process of gel-casting and reductive sintering [1,29,30,31,32]. Instead of burning the polymer binder in an oxidative atmosphere [33,34,35,36,37], we conduct reductive sintering for pursuing a highly uniformed carbon component which consists of nanoscale graphitized carbon in the ceramic matrix with kept shape [1,29,30,31,32]. We demonstrated a superior p-type semi-conductive property with high hole mobility in nano-carbon/alumina composite fabricated from methacrylamide casted body [32]
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