Nacre-like ceramic-metal composite achieves superior strength and mass-production potential

Mollusks possess sturdy protective shells, thanks to their internal nacre structure. Nacre, the natural nanocomposite, demonstrates outstanding mechanical properties through both high strength and high toughness. Nacre, therefore, is expected to be applied in fields such as lightweight structural composites and protective equipment. However, challenges like the limited material size, fabrication efficiency and flexibility impede the development.

A research team led by Academician Yu Shuhong from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has reported a new strategy for preparing nacre-like ceramic-metal composites (ceramets) based on deformable alumina microspheres coated with nickel salt. The material has excellent bending strength and fracture toughness, and can be mass-produced in various shapes through simple techniques.

This research is published in National Science Review.

Firstly, the research team synthesized size-tunable alumina microspheres through the emulsification of ceramic slurry in organic solvents. After sieving, they obtained microspheres of a uniform particle size and coated them with a layer of nickel salt.

Further, through mold assembly and hot-pressing, the modified composite microspheres were flattened into platelets. While the metallic nickel layer formed a compartmentalized structure, precisely replicating the natural nacre’s micro “brick and mud” structure.

It is worth mentioning that by employing more microspheres and irregular-shaped molds, this strategy allows the all-in-one preparation of large irregularly-shaped ceramets.

In addition, the nacre-like ceramets have been optimized on multiple scales. On the macro scale, alumina ceramic layers alternate with metallic nickel layers. On the micro scale, nickel particles penetrate into the ceramic layer to enhance toughness, while the interface between the two phases is tightly bonded.

This optimized material achieved a flexural strength of 386 MPa at room temperature and still maintained 286.86 MPa at 600°C high temperature. Its fracture toughness even hit 12.76 MPa·m^¹/² (room temperature) and 12.99 MPa·m^¹/² (high temperature).

The research team found that when nacre-like ceramets were subjected to force and fail, cracks would deflect along the ceramic-metal interface, preventing instantaneous failure through energy dissipation. This makes it highly eligible for applications in extreme environments, such as aerospace thermal protection and high-speed impact protective coating.

This study further applies nacre-like structure design to the field of ceramic-metal composites, representing a key step forward in practical applications of biomimetic structural materials.