Novel water-based processing of graphene oxide and sub-micrometric alumina towards tougher and electrically-conductive structural ceramics

Alemzadeh, Joseph, Benavente, Rut, Borrell, Amparo, Gutiérrez-González, Carlos, Suárez, Marta, Diaz, Luis A., Montes-Morán, Miguel A., Blanco, Clara, Evans, Sam L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3664-2569 and Rocha, Victoria G. 2025. Novel water-based processing of graphene oxide and sub-micrometric alumina towards tougher and electrically-conductive structural ceramics. Journal of the European Ceramic Society 45 (7) , 117260. 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2025.117260

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Abstract

Balancing the mechanical and functional properties of graphene-reinforced ceramics can be a challenge because agglomeration of the reinforcement must be avoided to minimise microstructural defects and it is difficult to organise the constituents into meaningful structures. The water-based processing strategy that is demonstrated here illustrates the potential to fabricate layered alumina composites using a combination of freeze-casting, vacuum infiltration, and spark plasma sintering. Layers of alumina between 0.5 – 7 μm thick and consist of an average grain size of 0.7 ±0.4 μm were separated by highly-oriented reduced graphene oxide. Mechanical and functional properties were investigated alongside a monolithic counterpart sintered at 1300 °C. The flexural strength and fracture toughness increased from 262 to 314MPa and 3.5 to 5.4 MPam1/2 respectively, whilst electrical conductivity rose by nine orders of magnitude to 10-1 Scm-1.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Engineering
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: Title: This article is under embargo with an end date yet to be finalised.
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0955-2219
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	12 February 2025
Date of Acceptance:	3 February 2025
Last Modified:	12 Feb 2025 11:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/176108

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