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Influence of grain boundary and grain size on the mechanical properties of polycrystalline ceramics: Grain‐scale simulations
Author(s) -
Gong Zhenyuan,
Zhao Wei,
Guan Kang,
Rao Pinggen,
Zeng Qingfeng,
Liu Jiantao,
Feng Zhiqiang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/jace.17286
Subject(s) - materials science , grain boundary strengthening , grain boundary , grain size , crystallite , ceramic , composite material , microscale chemistry , grain boundary diffusion coefficient , metallurgy , microstructure , mathematics , mathematics education
Abstract The Orowan‐Petch relation is a famous model to describe the strength of polycrystalline ceramics covering a wide range of grain sizes. However, it becomes difficult to explain the strength trend when the grain size decreases to the sub‐microscale or nanoscale. This is because some microstructural parameters (such as grain size, grain boundary fracture energy, and grain boundary defects) vary with different processing technologies, and their coupling effects on mechanical properties are still unclear. In this study, a finite element method (FEM) was applied to investigate the dependence of mechanical properties, such as strength and damage resistance, on the abovementioned microstructural parameters on example of alumina. The numerical results show that the grain boundary energy is weakly coupled with the grain size and grain boundary defects. The grain size and grain boundary are intercoupling, which affects mechanical properties. The mechanical properties could be improved by increasing the grain boundary fracture energy and decreasing the grain size and the grain boundary defect density.