Yixin Su¹, Yang Wang¹, Narumasa Miyazaki¹, Yusuke Ootani¹, Nobuki Ozawa¹, Momoji Kubo¹; ¹Tohoku University

Ceramics exhibit high stiffness and high-temperature stability, although brittleness limits their applications. Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) may provide a solution, yet previous experiments reported uncertainty in the reinforcement of CMCs with CNT. Consequently, the effect of variables such as annealing on reinforcement should be examined. In this research, the mechanical behavior of ceramic/CNT composites with and without annealing was investigated using reactive molecular dynamics methods. To reproduce CNTs at grain boundaries, amorphous alumina/CNT composites were considered. Without annealing, neither the Young’s modulus nor tensile strength changed with increasing CNT fraction. With annealing, both mechanical properties increased. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the annealed models approach ideal predictions of composites, while those without annealing do not. The annealed models showed that CNT bore more atomic strain and showed less interfacial slippage between alumina and CNT. We assume that residual stress left by annealing contributes to this phenomenon.