Search

New composites called ceramic-bonded carbon ( CBCs), consisting of a three-dimensional structure of carbon particles bonded with thin ceramic boundaries, were developed. To fabricate light and tough CBCs and to understand their reinforcing mechanism, Si3N4 and carbon powders (25:75 in volume ratio) were gelcasted and then sintered by spark plasma sintering at temperatures of 1700-1900°C. The ceramic boundary of SiC was formed in situ at above 1700°C by the reaction of Si3N4 and C. The sintered CBCs showed a unique microstructure consisting of carbon particles and ceramic boundaries of 15 μm in size and 0.5-3 μm in thickness, respectively. With an increase in sintering temperature, physical bonding of ceramic grains to the carbon particles was enhanced as the grain growth of SiC increased. The SiC/ CBCs sintered at 1900°C were highly dense (97% theoretical density), lightweight (2.36 mg/m3), and had both relatively high bending strength and thermal conductivity (135 MPa and 140 W/mK, respectively). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To obtain light and tough materials with high thermal conductivity, AlN ceramic bonded carbon (AlN/CBC) composites were fabricated at temperatures from 1600 to 1900°C in a short period of 5min by the spark plasma sintering technique. All AlN/CBCs (20vol% AlN) have unique microstructures containing carbon particles of 15μm in average size and continuous AlN boundary layers of 0.5–3μm in thickness. With an increase in sintering temperature, AlN grains grow and anchor into carbon particles, resulting in the formation of a tight bonding layer. The AlN/CBC sintered at 1900°C exhibited a light weight (2.34g/cm3), high bending strength (100MPa), and high thermal conductivity (170W/mK). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Dense three-dimensional (3D) microdevices of ZrO2-toughened Al2O3 (ZTA) were fabricated using microstereolithography and a subsequent sintering process. Using microstereolithography, 3D green bodies could be formed from a 40 vol% ZTA ceramic–resin paste. After sintering, the fabricated 3D devices are converted into dense ceramic devices without deformation. In this study, a gear (with a tooth edge of 25 μm) and a photonic crystal (with a lattice constant of 500 μm) were designed and fabricated. The dimensional accuracy of the fabrication process is within 20 μm and the sintering shrinkage is around 26% for these microdevices. The relative density of the sintered ZTA ceramics reached 96.5% of theoretical value. The measured hardness and toughness were about 14 GPa and 11 MPa m1/2, respectively, in both the top and side surfaces. A band gap between 320 and 420 GHz was observed in the ZTA photonic crystal. The microstereolithography process can be easily applied to other ceramic materials and devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-dimensional (1D) photonic crystals composed of a center polycrystalline yttrium iron garnet (YIG) plate sandwiched with alternate alumina and resin plates were fabricated using stereolithography. The formed crystals showed a transmission mode of microwave in band gap as a result of resonance at the YIG plate. The transmission frequency and intensity were controlled by applying an external magnetic field. These phenomena can be explained by Faraday and Voigt effects of YIG in magnetic field. The propagation characteristics of microwaves agreed well with the calculated results using the finite element method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dense three-dimensional microphotonic crystals of SiO2–Al2O3 ceramics were fabricated using microstereolithography and successive sintering process. The forming dimensional tolerance for a 50 vol% ceramic paste is 10 μm and sintering shrinkage is around 12%. Diamond-type photonic crystals with lattice constants of 500 and 125 μm were formed and sintered successfully. The band gaps of the samples were measured and compared with the theoretically calculated band diagram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were coated with a nanometer-sized SiC polycrystalline layer by the reaction of SiO(g) and CO(g). Nanometer-sized SiC powders were mixed with 1–5vol% SiC-coated MWCNTs and successfully sintered at 1800°C by means of pulsed electric current sintering. These composites showed superior microhardness of 30.6GPa and toughness of 5.4MPam1/2 compared to monolithic SiC ceramics due to the improvement of adhesion between MWCNTs and the SiC matrix by the SiC coating. The microhardness and toughness of the monolithic SiC ceramics are 25.5GPa and 4.8MPam1/2, respectively. The SiC-coated MWCNTs/SiC composites showed an interesting behavior with the elastic recovery when undergoing an indentation test. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals with a diamond structure made of a dense SiO2 ceramic were successfully fabricated using a CAD/CAM micro-stereolithography and sintering process. The designed lattice constant of the diamond unit cell was 500 μm and the forming tolerance from 50 vol% SiO2 paste (before sintering) was around 15 μm. After the SiO2-resin photonic crystals were formed via micro-stereolithography, they were converted to pure SiO2 ceramic photonic crystals of 99% theoretical density by sintering at 1400°C. The electromagnetic wave propagation in these dense SiO2 photonic crystals was measured by terahertz-time-domain spectroscopy. The results showed that the band gap appeared between 470 and 580 GHz in the Γ– X〈100〉 direction, between 490 and 630 GHz in the Γ– K〈110〉 direction, and between 400 and 510 GHz in the Γ– L〈111〉 direction, resulting in the formation of a common band gap in all directions between 490 and 510 GHz. These results agreed well with the band gaps calculated by the plane wave expansion method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental studies and finite-difference time-domain simulations of electromagnetic (EM) response of the second-stage Menger sponge dielectric structures have been performed with different types of excitation in order to gain deeper insight into the phenomenon of EM wave localization in these fractals. Analysis of simulated amplitude distributions of electric field oscillations in the Menger sponges has revealed bandgap-like effects caused by resonances in the front part of the structures, as well as formation of the full-wave resonance mode in the central cavity at the localization frequency. It is demonstrated that penetration of the waves inside the structure at the localization frequency leads to equalizing of the EM response from different parts of the 3-D fractal, however, no high-Q eigenmode is formed in the second-stage Menger sponge. Simulations of the modified fractal structures have been used to show the potential of formation of a bandgap with defect-related localized photon states by 3-D fractals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional photonic crystals with a diamond structure composed of YSZ (3 mol% Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2) spheres in a resin matrix were fabricated by using stereolithography. The lattice constant was 12 mm and the diameter of the spheres was 5 mm. These photonic crystals made of ceramic spheres showed complete photonic band gaps at around 12 GHz between the eighth and ninth bands. The propagation characteristics of microwaves agreed well with the calculated results using the plane wave expansion method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional photonic crystals were fabricated by infiltrating an epoxy mold with a SiC/polyester mixture. The epoxy molds with normal or inverse diamond structures were formed by stereolithography. The size of the mold was 45 mm × 18 mm × 18mm, and the lattice constant of the photonic crystals was 18 mm. The effects of the epoxy mold type, aspect ratio (the ratio of height and diameter of a diamond lattice rod), and number of sample units on the formation of photonic band gap (PBG) and microwave absorption ability along the 〈100〉 direction were studied. The attenuations of microwave transmission and reflection were measured through the photonic crystal samples at a frequency range of 3–12 GHz with a network analyzer. The results obtained suggest that the combination of the absorbing material SiC and diamond structure has a dual effect to form a PBG with a high absorption ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional photonic crystals with a diamond lattice structure consisting of 5 × 5 × 5 unit cells with the unit cell dimension of 15 mm were fabricated using TiO2-based ceramic particles dispersed epoxy by stereolithography. The diamond lattice showed a perfect band gap between 14.3 and 15.8 GHz. An air cavity defect with a rectangular shape (15 mm × 45 mm × 15 mm) was introduced at the center of the crystal by extracting 3 unit cells in order to investigate the shape effect of the defect on the formation of localized defect modes of electromagnetic wave. When microwaves were radiated normal to the wide sides (45 mm × 15 mm) of the rectangular shape defect, a sharp localized mode appeared at the middle of the band gap. However, no localized mode was observed for incident waves normal to the smaller side (15 mm × 15 mm) because of the symmetry mismatching between internal eigenmodes in the defect cavity and incident plane waves. The mode analysis using a simple cavity model showed the penetration of the electric field of resonant modes about 2.4 mm into the host lattice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ceramic photonic crystals with diamond structure were fabricated using stereolithography and successive sintering. The green body of an epoxy resin incorporating 10 vol% TiO2–SiO2 was formed by stereolithography and then heated in air at 1100°–1400°C for 2 h. The sintered products maintained the diamond structure with a linear shrinkage ratio of about 57% and a porosity of 38%. The ceramic photonic crystal with eight unit cells showed a photonic band gap at the center frequency of 23.5 GHz. This fabrication method of three-dimensional (3D) ceramic photonic crystals is applicable to other 3D structural ceramics and does not require any molding techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millimeter-order photonic crystals with the periodic arrangement of the dielectric constant were fabricated by infiltrating the mixed slurry of ceramics and polyester into the epoxy molds with an inverse form of a diamond structure. The epoxy molds are designed and processed by using a CAD/CAM process of stereolithography. The photonic crystals were prepared to have the diamond structure of the ceramic/polyester composite lattice, which is embedded in the epoxy matrix. The ceramic powders mixed with polyester are TiO2, SrTiO3, and BaTiO3 with high dielectric constant. It is possible to control more freely and widely the dielectric constant of the photonic crystals by this method. These ceramic/resin photonic crystals formed the complete photonic band gaps in the microwave band of 7–11 GHz, which can totally reflect the electromagnetic wave for all crystal directions. Attenuation profiles of the transmission amplitude in the band gaps were controlled with the dielectric constant of the composite lattice. The obtained results fairly agreed with the theoretical simulation of the electromagnetic wave propagation through photonic crystals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Microscale three-dimensional photonic crystals with different dielectric volume fractions (β) were fabricated to tune the band gaps in the subterahertz frequency range. When changed β from 33% to 20% in the SiO2–Al2O3 ceramic-resin photonic crystals with a lattice constant of 500 μm, the measured first band gaps were increased from 380–450 to 450–520 GHz. After dewaxing and sintering, the lattice constant of SiO2–Al2O3 ceramic photonic crystals were shrunk to 380 μm, and the observed band gaps correspondingly appeared from 470–540 GHz to 520–600 GHz. These experimental results were further confirmed by calculation of band diagrams using the plan wave expansion method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter reports an approach, based on microstereolithography, to create three-dimensional photonic crystals of microscale structure made of ceramic-resin composite (before sintering) and dense ceramics (after sintering). For ZrO2 toughened Al2O3 ceramic-resin photonic crystals (with a lattice constant of 500 μm), the forming resolution was around 10 μm and the measured band gap appeared between 350 and 400 GHz in the Γ-X <100> direction, 350 and 400 GHz in the Γ-K <110> direction, and 270 and 360 GHz in the Γ-L <111> direction. After sintering, the lattice constant shrunk to 380 μm and the band gap was between 320 and 420 GHz in the Γ-X <100> direction, 330 and 400 GHz in the Γ-K <110> direction, and 260 and 355 GHz in the Γ-L <111> direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Single-phase β-sialon powders (z =2–4) have been prepared with homogeneous compositions by the combustion synthesis. The raw materials (Si, Al and SiO2) were combusted under N2 pressure of 1MPa. Without using a diluent, the reaction temperatures were very high (>2000°C) and the combustion products contained Si and Al residues. With addition of commercial β-sialon (z =1) as a diluent (up to 50wt%), both the reaction temperatures and amount of residual Si and Al significantly decreased. The combustion reactions completed at 50wt% dilution, and pure β-sialon phases were synthesized. When the combustion product itself is used instead of the commercial diluent, the phase content of desired z value increased with the repetition times until a single-phase powder is produced. The sinterability of the synthesized powders was then tested using 5wt% Y2O3 as a sintering aid by the spark plasma sintering (SPS). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]