BI Song ¹ SU  Xunjia ¹ HOU  Genliang ¹ NIU  Yunbo ² GU Guoqiang ¹ XIAO Zhou ¹

( 1. The Second Artillery Engineering College, Xi'an Shanxi 710025, China;

2. Armament Research Institute of The Second Artillery, Beijing 100085, China )

Abstract:Dapper-fibre toughening technology as a new method to improve the brittleness of the ceramic materials opens a new research domain. The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) toughened alumina (Al₂O₃) ceramics as a dapper-fibre-toughened material has called increasing attention in recent years. In this paper, the methods for their characterization and the test of their mechanical properties were introduced briefly. The research status of the synthesizing methods and toughness of CNTs/Al₂O₃ composite ceramics was summarized. The toughening mechanism and the factors affecting their toughness were analyzed simply. Finally, the developing direction of CNTs/Al₂O₃ composite ceramics was predicted.

Keywords:carbon nanotubes, alumina, composite ceramics, toughening mechanism