Design high-entropy carbide ceramics from machine learning

High-entropy ceramics (HECs) have shown great application potential under demanding conditions, such as high stresses and temperatures. However, the immense phase space poses great challenges for the rational design of new high-performance HECs. In this work, we develop machine-learning (ML) models to discover high-entropy ceramic carbides (HECCs). Built upon attributes of HECCs and their constituent precursors, our ML models demonstrate a high prediction accuracy (0.982). Using the well-trained ML models, we evaluate the single-phase probability of 90 HECCs that are not experimentally reported so far. Several of these predictions are validated by our experiments. We further establish the phase diagrams for non-equiatomic HECCs spanning the whole composition space by which the single-phase regime can be easily identified. Our ML models can predict both equiatomic and non-equiatomic HECs based solely on the chemical descriptors of constituent transition-metal-carbide precursors, which paves the way for the high-throughput design of HECCs with superior properties.

Diamond Grinding Technology of Flexural Strength Test Pieces of Super hard, Brittle, Composite-ceramic Materials and Technological Equipment

At the present stage of the revolutionary development of technologies, scientists from the leading countries of the world are working intensively to create qualitatively new materials whose physical-mechanical, electrical, thermal or other properties far exceed the basic constructions, armament or other metals used. Such materials are surface, brittle, composite ceramic materials (based on oxide and carbide ceramics, state-of-the-art surface compositions, polycrystalline diamond + Si  SiC and etc.). A progressive process for diamond grinding test samples from composite ceramic materials to determine the bending strength is discussed. The proposed technological process is based on an original and effective method for polishing the flat surfaces of articles made of difficult-to-process and composite materials - low-temperature precision grinding (LPG). Based on the results of many years and multilateral studies in the field of diamond processing of various non-metallic, composite and ceramic materials, optimum conditions for diamond polishing of mentioned materials have been determined and recommended. Technological equipment and equipment for processing composite and ceramic materials are also disclosed.

Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy of silicon carbide ceramics SiC‒AlN

The paper discusses the possibility of using resonant ultrasonic spectroscopy (RUS) as a source of information for the physics and technology of obtaining silicon carbide ceramics by the example of samples of the composition SiC ‒ 25 % AlN, obtained by the method of spark plasma sintering. The possibility of obtaining a complete set of elastic moduli (EM) of samples with an error of less than 1 % is shown. At the same time, the requirements for surface quality are significantly reduced. The revealed functional relationship between EM and porosity makes it possible to create a non-destructive method of porosity control and calculate the elastic moduli at zero porosity (i. e., the elastic modulus of the ceramic matrix EM0). Comparison of EM0 samples obtained at different parameters of the technological process allows determining their optima values..