Mineral Nano-Interconnectivity Stiffens and Toughens Nacre-like Composite Materials

Researchers produce inorganic scaffolds using magnetic assembly to align preformed heterogeneous ceramic bricks, which are hot-pressed and infiltrated with an organic phase to generate a strong and tough composite that has a nacre-like brick-andmortar structure, interconnected with submicron interplatelet mineral bridges. The pioneering aspect of this study is the use of alumina platelets that are precoated with a ceramic layer that sinters at a lower temperature compared to the sintering temperature of the alumina platelets. Using precoated alumina platelets significantly minimize the processing time and material heterogeneity, which are commonly observed in fabrication processes that rely in co-sedimentation of particles exhibiting different size and density.