@article{e2d5cba50500477c8409c8158a641942,
title = "Effect of reduced graphene oxide on the mechanical properties of rGO/Al2O3 composites",
abstract = "We fabricated reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-reinforced Al2O3 composites by spark plasma sintering and studied the effect of graphene oxide (GO) dimensions on the microstructure and mechanical properties of composites. The thin GO led to both grain size refinement and grain boundary pinning effects. The Al2O3 composite reinforced by thin and large GO had higher hardness than that reinforced by thick and small GO. The addition of thick GO leads to a reduction of hardness and generation of lateral cracks at the Al2O3 grain boundaries under indentation due to low rGO interlayer strength. The rGO distribution in the Al2O3 matrix was studied. A model calculation showed that the spacing between two parallel rGO platelets was one Al2O3 grain at rGO addition of 0.77 wt%. We concluded that the increased hardness of rGO/Al2O3 composites is due to the fine grain size and thin rGO at Al2O3 grain boundaries.",
keywords = "Al O composites, Hardness, Reduced graphene oxide size",
author = "Wei Li and Sim, {Hak Jin} and Hui Lu and Huatang Cao and Ying Chen and Ping Xiao",
note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Dr. Gyorgyi Glodan for assistance during SPS, and Dr. Ben Spencer for conducting the XPS measurements. We are grateful to Mr. Daniel Scotson for proofreading. We acknowledge the support of The University of Manchester's Dalton Cumbrian Facility (DCF), a partner in the National Nuclear User Facility, the EPSRC UK National Ion Beam Centre and the Henry Royce Institute. The authors acknowledge the infrastructural support of the Electron Microscopy Centre in the University of Manchester. Wei LI would like to thank the funding support from China Scholarship Council (CSC) for his Ph.D. study. Ping Xiao acknowledges financial support from Rolls-Royce and the Royal Academy of Engineering for his appointment as Rolls-Royce/Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Advanced Coating Technology. Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Dr. Gyorgyi Glodan for assistance during SPS, and Dr. Ben Spencer for conducting the XPS measurements. We are grateful to Mr. Daniel Scotson for proofreading. We acknowledge the support of The University of Manchester's Dalton Cumbrian Facility ( DCF ), a partner in the National Nuclear User Facility, the EPSRC UK National Ion Beam Centre and the Henry Royce Institute . The authors acknowledge the infrastructural support of the Electron Microscopy Centre in the University of Manchester . Wei LI would like to thank the funding support from China Scholarship Council ( CSC ) for his Ph.D. study. Ping Xiao acknowledges financial support from Rolls-Royce and the Royal Academy of Engineering for his appointment as Rolls-Royce / Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Advanced Coating Technology. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022",
year = "2022",
month = aug,
day = "15",
doi = "10.1016/j.ceramint.2022.05.080",
language = "English",
volume = "48",
pages = "24021--24031",
journal = "Ceramics International",
issn = "0272-8842",
publisher = "Elsevier BV",
number = "16",
}