Three-Dimensional Continuous Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Network-Toughened Diamond Composite

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel 3D continuous multi-walled carbon nanotubes network to toughen diamond composites, significantly increasing fracture toughness while maintaining high hardness, surpassing traditional intrinsic toughening methods.

Contribution

The study presents a new extrinsic toughening strategy by embedding a 3D MWCNTs network in diamond, creating interfaces that enhance toughness beyond existing approaches.

Findings

Fracture toughness increased to ~36.4 MPa.m1/2.

Hardness maintained at approximately 91.6 GPa.

Composite toughness surpasses that of tungsten alloys.

Abstract

Enhancing the fracture toughness of diamond while preserving its hardness is a significant challenge. Traditional toughening strategies have primarily focused on modulating the internal microstructural units of diamonds, including adjustments to stacking sequences, faults, nanotwinning, and the incorporation of amorphous phases, collectively referred to as intrinsic toughening. Here, we introduce an extrinsic toughening strategy to develop an unparalleled tough diamond composite with complex and abundant sp2-sp3 bonding interfaces, by incorporating highly dispersed multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into the gaps of diamond grains to create a three-dimensional (3D) continuous MWCTNs network-toughen heterogeneous structure. The resultant composite exhibits a hardness of approximately 91.6 GPa and a fracture toughness of roughly 36.4 MPa.m1/2, which is six times higher than that of synthetic diamond and even surpasses that of tungsten alloys, surpassing the benefits achievable through intrinsic toughening alone. The remarkable toughening behavior can be attributed to the formation of numerous mixed sp2-sp3 bonding interactions at the 3D continuous network MWCNTs/diamond interfaces, which facilitate efficient energy dissipation. Our 3D continuous network heterogeneous structure design provides an effective approach for enhancing the fracture toughness of superhard materials, offering a new paradigm for the advanced composite ceramics.