Ceramic materials are used in various industrial applications, as they possess exceptional physical, chemical, thermal, mechanical, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties. Ceramic structural components, especially those with highly complex structures and shapes, are difficult to fabricate with conventional methods, such as sintering and hot isostatic pressing (HIP). The use of preceramic polymers has many advantages, such as excellent processibility, easy shape change, and tailorable composition for fabricating high-performance ceramic components. Additive manufacturing (AM) is an evolving manufacturing technique that can be used to construct complex and intricate structural components. Integrating polymer-derived ceramics and AM techniques has drawn significant attention, as it overcomes the limitations and challenges of conventional fabrication approaches. This review discusses the current research that used AM technologies to fabricate ceramic articles from preceramic feedstock materials, and it demonstrates that AM processes are effective and versatile approaches for fabricating ceramic components. The future of producing ceramics using preceramic feedstock materials for AM processes is also discussed at the end.
Polymeric composites with boron nitride nanosheets (BNNs), which are thermally conductive yet electrically insulating, have been pursued for a variety of technological applications, especially those for thermal management in electronic devices and systems. Highlighted in this review are recent advances in the effort to improve in-plane thermal transport performance in polymer/BNNs composites and also the growing research activities aimed at composites of enhanced cross-plane or isotropic thermal conductivity, for which various filler alignment strategies during composite fabrication have been explored. Also highlighted and discussed are some significant challenges and major opportunities for further advances in the development of thermally conductive composite materials and their mechanistic understandings.
Modern aerospace applications demand the development of high‐performance components with advanced materials. The development of nanomaterial‐reinforced metal matrix composites is a practical approach to improve properties. Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is one of the popular additive manufacturing approaches to fabricating metal parts with complex geometric structures. This research investigates multiwalled carbon nanotube (CNT)‐reinforced nickel‐based alloy (Haynes 230) nanocomposite for property improvement. Three volumetric concentrations (0%, 2.5%, and 5%) of CNTs in the metal matrix are investigated with different printing parameters. Different characterizations are conducted on the test specimens. Results show that LPBF‐printed Haynes 230 with 2.5 vol% CNTs has higher relative density (99.36%) and less porosity compared to those printed with 5 vol% CNTs. Mechanical test results show that LPBF‐printed Haynes 230 with 2.5 vol% CNTs has the highest hardness, modulus of elasticity, yield strength, and ultimate strength than those printed with as‐received Haynes 230 powder (with 0 vol% CNTs), Haynes 230 with 5 vol% CNTs, and commercial Haynes 230 plates. The strengthening behavior of the CNTs in the metal matrix composites is discussed in this paper. The potential of CNT‐reinforced nickel‐based nanocomposites for applications requiring materials with outstanding mechanical properties, such as aerospace and defense, is demonstrated.
20 October 2017 in Journal of Nanoparticle Research
Nanomaterials with one-, two-, or three-dimensional structures have exhibited superior optical, electronic, magnetic, thermal, and mechanical properties compared to their bulk material counterparts