Strain and deformation in ultra-hard nanocomposites nc-TiN/a-BN under hydrostatic pressure

A high pressure diffraction study, from ambient to 50 GPa, has been carried out on nanocrystalline TiN/amorphous BN nanocomposite materials prepared by plasma chemical vapor deposition. The compressibilities of these materials were found not to be significantly different from TiN. A large amount of biaxial and isotropic strain was found to build up on pressurization which continued to exist after depressurization and annealing indicating a permanent deformation under high pressure. This permanent deformation is located in the grain boundaries and is reduced by the presence of amorphous BN.