Effect of Carbon Nanotubes on Strength Characteristics of Nanostructured Ceramic Composites for Biomedicine

Abstract

The relationship between synthesis conditions, structure, and properties of the baddeleyite-based engineering nanostructured composite zirconia ceramic (natural zirconia mineral) with modifying alloying elements is studied. The elaborated composites possess high physical and mechanical properties at a level that is not only not inferior, but even superior to those of analogous ceramics prepared from precipitated zirconia (e.g., density is 0.95 of the theoretical value, the hardness reaches 12 GPa, the Young modulus is 220 ± 15 GPa, and the fracture toughness reaches 9 MPa m^0.5). The embedding of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is shown to alter the physical and mechanical properties of ceramics: the hardness is somewhat reduced, but fracture toughness K_C gains more than 10%.