Inorganic-organic composites find extensive application in various fields, including electronic devices and light-emitting diodes. Notably, encapsulation technologies are employed to shield electronic devices (such as printed circuit boards and batteries) from stress and moisture exposure while maintaining electrical insulation. Polymer composites can be used as encapsulation materials because of their controllable mechanical and electrical properties. In this study, we propose a polymer composite that provides good electrical insulation and enhanced mechanical properties. This is achieved by using aluminum borate nanowhiskers (ABOw), which are fabricated using a facile synthesis method. The ABOw fillers are created via a hydrothermal method using aluminum chloride and boric acid. We confirm that the synthesis occurs in various morphologies based on the molar ratio. Specifically, nanowhiskers are synthesized at a molar ratio of 1:3 and used as fillers in the composite. The fabricated ABOw/epoxy composites exhibit a 48.5% enhancement in mechanical properties, similar to those of pure epoxy, while maintaining good electrical insulation.

Epoxy-based composites find extensive application in electronic packaging due to their excellent processability and insulation properties. However, conventional epoxy-based polymers exhibit limitations in terms of thermal properties and insulation performance. In this study, we develop epoxy-based siloxane/silica composites that enhance the thermal, mechanical, and insulating properties of epoxy resins. This is achieved by employing a sol–gelsynthesized siloxane hybrid and spherical fused silica particles. Herein, we fabricate two types of epoxy-based siloxane/ silica composites with different siloxane molecular structures (branched and linear siloxane networks) and investigate the changes in their properties for different compositions (with or without silica particles) and siloxane structures. The presence of a branched siloxane structure results in hardness and low insulating properties, while a linear siloxane structure yields softness and highly insulating properties. Both types of epoxy-based siloxane/silica composites exhibit high thermal stability and low thermal expansion. These properties are considerably improved by incorporating silica particles. We expect that our developed epoxy-based composites to hold significant potential as advanced electronic packaging materials, offering high-performance and robustness.

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• Enhanced Epoxy Composites Reinforced by 3D-Aligned Aluminum Borate Nanowhiskers
  Hyunseung Song, Kiho Song, Haejin Hwang, Changui Ahn
  Materials.2024; 17(19): 4727.     CrossRef

In this study, Ti-Mo-EB composites are prepared by ball milling and spark plasma sintering (SPS) to obtain a low elastic modulus and high strength and to evaluate the microstructure and mechanical properties as a function of the process conditions. As the milling time and sintering temperature increased, Mo, as a β-Ti stabilizing element, diffused, and the microstructure of β-Ti increased. In addition, the size of the observed phase was small, so the modulus and hardness of α-Ti and β-Ti were measured using nanoindentation equipment. In both phases, as the milling time and sintering temperature increased, the modulus of elasticity decreased, and the hardness increased. After 12 h of milling, the specimen sintered at 1000°C showed the lowest values of modulus of elasticity of 117.52 and 101.46 GPa for α-Ti and β-Ti, respectively, confirming that the values are lower compared to the that in previously reported studies.

Recently, interest in technology for eco-friendly energy harvesting has been increasing. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is one of the most fascinating materials that has been used in energy harvesting technology as well as micro-filters by utilizing an electrostatic effect. To enhance the performance of the electrostatic effect-based nanogenerator, most studies have focused on enlarging the contact surface area of the pair of materials with different triboelectric series. For this reason, one-dimensional nanofibers have been widely used recently. In order to realize practical energy-harvesting applications, PVDF nanofibers are modified by enlarging their contact surface area, modulating the microstructure of the surface, and maximizing the fraction of the β-phase by incorporating additives or forming composites with inorganic nanoparticles. Among them, nanocomposite structures incorporating various nanoparticles have been widely investigated to increase the β-phase through strong hydrogen bonding or ion-dipole interactions with -CF₂/CH₂- of PVDF as well as to enhance the mechanical strength. In this study, we report the recent advances in the nanocomposite structure of PVDF nanofibers and inorganic nanopowders.

The automotive industry has focused on the development of metallic materials with high specific strength, which can meet both fuel economy and safety goals. Here, a new class of ultrafine-grained high-Mn steels containing nano-scale oxides is developed using powder metallurgy. First, high-energy mechanical milling is performed to dissolve alloying elements in Fe and reduce the grain size to the nanometer regime. Second, the ball-milled powder is consolidated using spark plasma sintering. During spark plasma sintering, nanoscale manganese oxides are generated in Fe-15Mn steels, while other nanoscale oxides (e.g., aluminum, silicon, titanium) are produced in Fe-15Mn-3Al-3Si and Fe-15Mn-3Ti steels. Finally, the phases and resulting hardness of a variety of high-Mn steels are compared. As a result, the sintered pallets exhibit superior hardness when elements with higher oxygen affinity are added; these elements attract oxygen from Mn and form nanoscale oxides that can greatly improve the strength of high-Mn steels.

Metal matrix composites (MMCs), which are a combination of two or more constituents with different physical or chemical properties, are today receiving great attention in various areas, as they have high specific strength, corrosion resistance, fatigue strength, and good tribological properties. This paper presents a research review on the combination of matrix and reinforced materials, fabrication processes, and application status of metal matrix composites. In this paper, we aim to discuss and review the importance of metal composite materials as advanced materials that can be used in various applications such as transportation, defense, sports, and extreme environments. In addition, the applicability and technology development trends in new process technology fields such as additive manufacturing of metal composites will be described.

To improve the mechanical properties of aluminum, graphene has been used as a reinforcing material, yielding graphene-reinforced aluminum matrix composites (GRAMCs). Dispersion of graphene materials is an important factor that affects the properties of GRAMCs, which are mainly manufactured by mechanical mixing methods such as ball milling. However, the use of only mechanical mixing process is limited to achieve homogeneous dispersion of graphene. To overcome this problem, in this study, we have prepared composite materials by coating aluminum particles with graphene by a self-assembly reaction using poly vinylalcohol and ethylene diamine as coupling agents. The scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy results confirm the coating of graphene on the Al surface. Bulk density of the sintered composites by spark plasma sintering achieved a relative density of over 99% up to 0.5 wt.% graphene oxide content.

With the recent remarkable improvements in the average speeds of contemporary trains, a necessity has arisen for the development of new friction modifiers to improve adhesion characteristics at the wheel-rail interface. The friction modifier must be designed to reduce slippage or sliding of the trains’ wheels on the rails under conditions of rapid acceleration or braking without excessive rolling contact wear. In this study, a novel composite material consisting of metal, ceramic, and polymer is proposed as a friction modifier to improve adhesion between wheels and rails. A blend of Al-6Cu-0.5Mg metallic powder, Al₂O₃ ceramic powder, and Bakelite-based polymer in various weight-fractions is hot-pressed at 150°C to form a bulk composite material. Variation in the adhesion coefficient is evaluated using a high-speed wheel-rail friction tester, with and without application of the composite friction modifier, under both dry and wet conditions. The effect of varying the weighting fractions of metal and ceramic friction powders is detailed in the paper.

Carbonyl iron (CI) is successfully incorporated as an additive into a polystyrene (PS) matrix via a highenergy ball milling method, under an n-hexane medium with volume fractions between 1% and 5% for electromagnetic interference shielding applications by the combination of magnetic CI and an insulating PS matrix. The morphology and the dispersion of CI are investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy, which indicates a uniform distribution of CI in the PS matrix after 2 h of milling. The thermal behavior results indicate no significant degradation of the PS when there is a slight increase in the onset temperature with the addition of CI powder, when compared to the as-received PS pellet. After milling, there are no interactions between the CI and the PS matrix, as confirmed by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. In this study, the milled CI-PS powder is extruded to make filaments, and can have potential applications in the 3-D printing industry.

In this study, bulk nickel-carbon nanotube (CNT) nanocomposites are synthesized by a novel method which includes a combination of ultrasonication, electrical explosion of wire in liquid and spark plasma sintering. The mechanical characteristics of the bulk Ni-CNT composites synthesized with CNT contents of 0.7, 1, 3 and 5 wt.% are investigated. X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy techniques are used to observe the different phases, morphologies and structures of the composite powders as well as the sintered samples. The obtained results reveal that the as-synthesized composite exhibits substantial enhancement in the microhardness and values more than 140 HV are observed. However an empirical reinforcement limit of 3 wt.% is determined for the CNT content, beyond which, there is no significant improvement in the mechanical properties.

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• Fabrication of nanocomposites by electric explosion of stainless steel capillaries filled with carbon nanotubes
  Tao Jiang, Zhongyu Hou
  Applied Surface Science.2020; 513: 145824.     CrossRef
• Effect of a nano-sized TiC particle addition on the flow-assisted corrosion resistance of SA 106B carbon steel
  Jin-Ju Park, Eun-Kwang Park, Gyoung-Ja Lee, Chang-Kyu Rhee, Min-Ku Lee
  Applied Surface Science.2017; 415: 143.     CrossRef

WS₂-W-WC embedded carbon nanofiber composites were fabricated by using electrospinning method for use in high-performance supercapacitors. In order to obtain optimum electrochemical properties for supercapacitors, WS₂ nanoparticles were used as precursors and the amounts of WS₂ precursors were controlled to 4 wt% (sample A) and 8 wt% (sample B). The morphological, structural, and chemical properties of all samples were investigated by means of field emission photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. These results demonstrated that the embedded phases of samples A and B were changed from WS₂ to WS₂-W-WC through carbothermal reaction during carbonization process. In particular, sample B presented high specific capacitance (~119.7 F/g at 5 mV/s), good high-rate capacitance (~60.5%), and superb cycleability. The enhanced electrochemical properties of sample B were explained by the synergistic effect of the using 1-D structure supports, increase of specific surface area, and improved conductivity from formation of W and WC phases.

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• WS2 Nanoparticles Embedded in Carbon Nanofibers for a Pseudocapacitor
  Ki-Wook Sung, Jung Soo Lee, Tae-Kum Lee, Hyo-Jin Ahn
  Korean Journal of Materials Research.2021; 31(8): 458.     CrossRef

Much research into fuel cells operating at a temperature below 800°C. is being performed. There are significant efforts to replace the yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolyte with a doped ceria electrolyte that has high ionic conductivity even at a lower temperature. Even if the doped ceria electrolyte has high ionic conductivity, it also shows high electronic conductivity in a reducing environment, therefore, when used as a solid electrolyte of a fuel cell, the powergeneration efficiency and mechanical properties of the fuel cell may be degraded. In this study, gadolinium-doped ceria nanopowder with Al₂O₃ and Mn₂O₃ as a reinforcing and electron trapping agents were synthesized by ultrasonic pyrolysis process. After firing, their microstructure and mechanical and electrical properties were investigated and compared with those of pure gadolinium-doped ceria specimen.

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• High growth-rate atomic layer deposition process of cerium oxide thin film for solid oxide fuel cell
  Jin-Geun Yu, Byung Chan Yang, Jeong Woo Shin, Sungje Lee, Seongkook Oh, Jae-Ho Choi, Jaehack Jeong, Wontae Noh, Jihwan An
  Ceramics International.2019; 45(3): 3811.     CrossRef
• Atomic-layer-deposited ZrO2-doped CeO2 thin film for facilitating oxygen reduction reaction in solid oxide fuel cell
  Byung Chan Yang, Dohyun Go, Seongkook Oh, Jeong Woo Shin, Hyong June Kim, Jihwan An
  Applied Surface Science.2019; 473: 102.     CrossRef