Microstructure design and preparation of Al2O3/TiC/TiN micro-nano-composite ceramic tool materials based on properties prediction with finite element method

The objective of this paper was to improve the accuracy of semi-empirical method used to design ceramic cutting tool materials. The mechanical properties were predicted by employing finite element model of material microstructure, so as to design microstructure and prepare new ceramic materials. Based on the Voronoi and randomness method, the microstructure model representing the complexity and randomness of micro-nano-composite ceramic material microstructure was established. Combining the representative volume element (RVE) of ceramic material microstructure with mechanical tests, the simulations of mechanical tests were conducted to acquire the flexure strength, fracture toughness and hardness of materials. The microstructure models with various parameters were designed and the material properties were predicted to determine the optimal microstructure parameters. Then, The ceramic cutting tool materials possessing the optimal microstructure parameters were developed for machining ultra-high strength steels. The results showed that the mechanical properties of ceramic materials first improved and then declined as the nano-scale TiC volume fraction increased. To obtain the best comprehensive mechanical properties, the contents of micro-scale TiN, TiC and nano-scale TiC were set as 20%, 10% and 10%, respectively. The prepared ceramic materials possessed the flexure strength of 881.4 MPa, the fracture toughness of 7.8 MPa m1/2, and the Vickers hardness of 20.8 GPa. This research is beneficial to the development of cutting tool design theory and the improvement of the tool life.