Keywords
silicon nitride, anisotropic, carbothermal reduction nitridation (CRN), wood, nanowhisker arrays
Abstract
Inspired by the transport behavior of water and ions through the aligned channels in trees, we demonstrate a facile, scalable approach for constructing biomorphic cellular Si3N4 ceramic frameworks with well-aligned nanowhisker arrays on the surface of directionally aligned microchannel alignments. Through a facile Y(NO3)3 solution infiltration into wood-derived carbon preforms and subsequent heat treatment, we can faultlessly duplicate the anisotropic wood architectures into free-standing bulk porous Si3N4 ceramics. Firstly, α-Si3N4 microchannels were synthesized on the surface of CB-templates via carbothermal reduction nitridation (CRN). And then, homogeneous distributed Y-Si-O-N liquid phase on the walls of microchannel facilitated the anisotropic β-Si3N4 grain growth to form nanowhisker arrays. The dense aligned microchannels with low-tortuosity enable excellent load carrying capacity and thermal conduction through the entire materials. As a result, the porous Si3N4 ceramics exhibited an outstanding thermal conductivity (TC, kR ≈ 6.26 W·m-1·K-1), a superior flexural strength (σL ≈ 29.4 MPa), and a relative high anisotropic ratio of TC (kR/kL = 4.1). The orientation dependence of the microstructure-property relations may offer a promising perspective for the fabrication of multifunctional ceramics.
Recommended Citation
XU, Songsong; ZHOU, Xiaonan; ZHI, Qiang; GAO, Junjie; HAO, Liucheng; SHI, Zhongqi; WANG, Bo; YANG, Jianfeng; and ISHIZAKI, Kozo
(2022)
"Anisotropic, biomorphic cellular Si3N4 ceramics with directional well-aligned nanowhisker arrays based on wood-mimetic architectures,"
Journal of Advanced Ceramics: Vol. 11:
Iss.
4, Article 4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40145-021-0555-1
Available at:
https://dc.tsinghuajournals.com/journal-of-advanced-ceramics/vol11/iss4/4
