Formation of intragranular nano-structures in micro-sized ceramic composite materials

Intragranular nano-structures observed in Al2O3/SiC/(W, Ti)C, Al2O3/SiC/Ti(C, N), Al2O3/(W, Ti)C/RE, Al2O3/Ti(C, N)/RE and Al2O3/Cr3C2/(W, Ti)C micro-sized composite ceramic materials were reported. Analysis techniques such as SEM, TEM and EDAX were used to investigate the morphology and formation mechanism of the intragranular nano-structures and their effects on the mechanical property. It was found that grain size of the observed nanometer particles is mainly in the range of tens to hundreds of nanometer, which belongs to the typical intragranular structure. The intragranular nano-structures are effective in the improvement of mechanical properties of the micro-sized ceramic composite materials.