Strong and ultra-flexible polymer-derived silicon carbonitride nanocomposites by aligned carbon nanotubes

We report the synthesis of flexible ceramic composites with a high tensile strength (536.33±7.23 MPa) using carbon nanotube sheet aligned by mechanically stretching process. The process is based on the infiltration and pyrolysis of liquid ceramic precursor into aligned carbon nanotube sheet. Mechanical properties and microstructure of the resultant composites are investigated. The resultant nanocomposites maintain well-aligned carbon nanotube morphology with high volume fraction (60%) and long pullout (15 µm), contributing to a high degree of load-transfer efficiency and toughening. Flexibility test reveals that such ceramic nanocomposites retain the original mechanical properties and microstructures after one thousand repetitions of 75% bending deformation, showing excellent compliance and durability. Applications requiring materials with high flexibility and mechanical properties can benefit from this research.