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Strengthening Superhard Materials by Nanostructure Engineering

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Abstract

Traditional superhard materials mainly including diamond and cubic boron nitride are indispensable to scientific research in many fields and numerous industrial applications, especially as cutting and machining tools. Relentless search for new superhard systems with mechanical properties surpassing those of traditional ones has inspired tremendous experimental efforts over the past few decades. On the other hand, enhancing mechanical properties of traditional superhard materials via nanostructuring proved to be an effective approach. A number of recent experiments towards fabricating nanostructured diamond and cubic boron nitride under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions have led to record hardness of ~200 and ~110 GPa, respectively, nearly twice those of their single-crystal counterparts. Armed with largely strengthened toughness and thermal stability as well, these nanocrystalline forms of traditional superhard materials have great potential for the next-generation superhard material applications. However, to date, knowledge on such nanostructured superhard materials is still scarce, and there are many mysteries surrounding the formation mechanism, effects of pressure and temperature on the growth of nanograins and defects (e.g., nano-twins), and underlying strengthening mechanism of nano effect on mechanical properties, and so on. A review of this hot topic is necessary and would provide important guidance for future studies of superhard materials.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Key Research Platforms and Research Projects of Universities in Guangdong Province (grant no. 2018KZDXM062), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee (grant no. JCYJ20190809173213150), the Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program (no. 2016ZT06C279), the Shenzhen Peacock Plan (no. KQTD2016053019134356), and the Research Platform for Crystal Growth and Thin-Film Preparation at SUSTech. The work was also partially supported by the Shenzhen Development and Reform Commission Foundation for Shenzhen Engineering Research Center for Frontier Materials Synthesis at High Pressure, the grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 11027405), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. 2019M662694).

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  1. Department of Physics, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies and Shenzhen Engineering Research Center for Frontier Materials Synthesis at High Pressure, Southern University of Science and Technology, 518055, Shenzhen, China

    Xiangting Ren, Xiaozhi Yan, Liping Wang, Yusheng Zhao & Shanmin Wang

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Xiangting Ren, Yan, X., Wang, L. et al. Strengthening Superhard Materials by Nanostructure Engineering. J. Superhard Mater. 43, 307–329 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3103/S1063457621050063

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