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Synthesis, microstructure and hardness of bulk ultrahard BN nanocomposites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

D. Rafaja ,
V. Klemm ,
M. Motylenko ,
M.R. Schwarz ,
T. Barsukova ,
E. Kroke ,
D. Frost ,
L. Dubrovinsky  and
N. Dubrovinskaia
D. Rafaja
Affiliation:
Institut für Werkstoffwissenschaft (Institute of Materials Science), Technische Universität (TU)-Bergakademie Freiberg, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany
V. Klemm
Affiliation:
Institut für Werkstoffwissenschaft (Institute of Materials Science), Technische Universität (TU)-Bergakademie Freiberg, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany
M. Motylenko
Affiliation:
Institut für Werkstoffwissenschaft (Institute of Materials Science), Technische Universität (TU)-Bergakademie Freiberg, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany
M.R. Schwarz
Affiliation:
Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Technische Universität (TU)-Bergakademie Freiberg, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany; and Chemische Materialwissenschaft, Fachbereich Chemie, Universität Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany
T. Barsukova*
Affiliation:
Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Technische Universität (TU)-Bergakademie Freiberg, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany
E. Kroke*
Affiliation:
Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Technische Universität (TU)-Bergakademie Freiberg, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany
D. Frost
Affiliation:
Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany
L. Dubrovinsky
Affiliation:
Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany
N. Dubrovinskaia
Affiliation:
Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: kroke@chemie.tu-freiberg.de
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: kroke@chemie.tu-freiberg.de
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Abstract

Ultrahard boron nitride compacts containing nanosized domains of the cubic (c-BN), wurtzitic (w-BN), and hexagonal (h-BN) phase were synthesized at high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) conditions. Hot-pressed and pyrolytic BN, both containing h-BN as a main component, were used as starting materials. The HP/HT products were investigated by x-ray diffraction via Rietveld and line-profile analysis, as well as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. c-BN was the dominant phase in all products, complemented by up to 25 wt% w-BN and some remaining “compressed h-BN.” In particular samples, partial crystallographic coherence of adjacent crystallites to x-rays was observed, which has been previously found in superhard transition metal nitride-based nanocomposite coatings. In the BN nanocomposites, the partial coherence of nanocrystallites to x-rays was improved by their strong local preferred orientation, which is made possible by the well-known orientation relationships among h-BN, w-BN, and c-BN phases. The correlation between the weight fraction and the average size of the c-BN crystallites helped to describe the formation of c-BN/(w-BN) nanocomposites from submicron-sized h-BN domains in the starting materials. The Knoop and Vickers hardness of specimens with crystallite sizes ranging from 6 to ∼50 nm was found to be significantly higher than that of c-BN single crystals, despite the presence of residual h-BN.

Keywords

HardnessMicrostructureX-ray diffraction (XRD)
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , April 2008 , pp. 981 - 993
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

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