TY - JOUR

T1 - Large mechanical properties enhancement in ceramics through vacancy-mediated unit cell disturbance

AU - Chen, Zhuo

AU - Huang, Yong

AU - Koutná, Nikola

AU - Gao, Zecui

AU - Sangiovanni, Davide

AU - Fellner, Simon

AU - Haberfehlner, Georg

AU - Jin, Shengli

AU - Mayrhofer, Paul H.

AU - Kothleitner, Gerald

AU - Zhang, Zaoli

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank Dr. J. Buchinger for the thin film synthesis. Dr. Matthias Bartosik is acknowledged for his initial discussion of experiments. The authors thank Prof. Jian Wang (Department of Mechanical and Materials of Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) for the helpful discussion about interpreting mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms. This work is financially supported by FWF P 33696 (Z.C., Y.H., Z.Z.). Z.G. thanks the China Scholarship Council (CSC, 201908440933) for the support. D.G.S. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Competence Center Functional Nanoscale Materials (FunMat-II) (Vinnova Grant No. 2022-03071) and the Swedish Research Council (VR) through Grant N° VR-2021-04426. Calculations and simulations were performed using resources provided by the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC), partially funded by the Swedish Research Council through Grant Agreement N° VR-2015-04630. Funding Information: The authors thank Dr. J. Buchinger for the thin film synthesis. Dr. Matthias Bartosik is acknowledged for his initial discussion of experiments. The authors thank Prof. Jian Wang (Department of Mechanical and Materials of Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) for the helpful discussion about interpreting mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms. This work is financially supported by FWF P 33696 (Z.C., Y.H., Z.Z.). Z.G. thanks the China Scholarship Council (CSC, 201908440933) for the support. D.G.S. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Competence Center Functional Nanoscale Materials (FunMat-II) (Vinnova Grant No. 2022-03071) and the Swedish Research Council (VR) through Grant N° VR-2021-04426. Calculations and simulations were performed using resources provided by the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC), partially funded by the Swedish Research Council through Grant Agreement N° VR-2015-04630. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).

PY - 2023/12/16

Y1 - 2023/12/16

N2 - Tailoring vacancies is a feasible way to improve the mechanical properties of ceramics. However, high concentrations of vacancies usually compromise the strength (or hardness). We show that a high elasticity and flexural strength could be achieved simultaneously using a nitride superlattice architecture with disordered anion vacancies up to 50%. Enhanced mechanical properties primarily result from a distinctive deformation mechanism in superlattice ceramics, i.e., unit-cell disturbances. Such a disturbance substantially relieves local high-stress concentration, thus enhancing deformability. No dislocation activity involved also rationalizes its high strength. The work renders a unique understanding of the deformation and strengthening/toughening mechanism in nitride ceramics.

AB - Tailoring vacancies is a feasible way to improve the mechanical properties of ceramics. However, high concentrations of vacancies usually compromise the strength (or hardness). We show that a high elasticity and flexural strength could be achieved simultaneously using a nitride superlattice architecture with disordered anion vacancies up to 50%. Enhanced mechanical properties primarily result from a distinctive deformation mechanism in superlattice ceramics, i.e., unit-cell disturbances. Such a disturbance substantially relieves local high-stress concentration, thus enhancing deformability. No dislocation activity involved also rationalizes its high strength. The work renders a unique understanding of the deformation and strengthening/toughening mechanism in nitride ceramics.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85179936308&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-023-44060-x

DO - 10.1038/s41467-023-44060-x

M3 - Article

C2 - 38104109

AN - SCOPUS:85179936308

VL - 14.2023

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

SN - 2041-1723

IS - 1

M1 - 8387

ER -