Ravi Kumar N V

Different polymorphs of niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) were synthesized using niobium ethoxide as a precursor by varying the pyrolyzing temperature. The room temperature X-ray diffractograms revealed the irreversible phase evolution from amorphous to pseudohexagonal (823 K) to orthorhombic (1023 K) and to monoclinic crystal structure (1223 K). While phase evolution was also confirmed by thermogravimetry and dilatometry, Raman spectroscopy clearly suggested complete elimination of free carbon in the pyrolysed ceramics. The sintering conditions were optimized to produce a highly dense (>95%) thermodynamically stable monoclinic Nb2O5. The electrical properties of stable monoclinic Nb2O5 sample were thoroughly studied. The monoclinic Nb2O5 was found to have a dielectric constant of around 28 with a dielectric loss of 0.008 at room temperature and at 100 kHz. At low measurement frequencies, an anomalous increase in the effective dielectric permittivity with increasing temperature was observed. Large values of the ε’ are associated with polarization due to the accumulation of free electrons at the grain boundaries. An analysis of the dispersion curves of Nb2O5 revealed that two relaxation processes are responsible for the observed anomalies, and the temperature dependencies of their parameters (dielectric strength, relaxation time and spectrum broadening parameter) were determined. The low-frequency process (relaxation time τ0 ~ 0.45 s), which makes the largest contribution to the dielectric constant, was apparently due to the inhomogeneous conductivity of ceramics. It was revealed that the DC conductivity of ceramics has thermoactivation character with activation energy of about 660 meV and was determined by the oxygen vacancies.

Since the last five decades, polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) are in use and envisaged for a variety of applications. The transition of a precursor to an inorganic ceramic by pyrolysis and heat-treatment results in either amorphous or nanocrystalline composites with the evolution of phases strongly controlled by the processing conditions. Understanding the deformation behaviour under ambient conditions and at elevated temperatures is key to designing these materials for long-term use. However, quantitative reliable estimation of mechanical properties is quite challenging due to its unique structure which in turn is strongly governed by the precursor chemistry. The mechanical behaviour of PDCs in the form of fibres, bulk and foams are different and they are discussed separately. Both experimental and simulation-based studies are considered in this review. Recently, additive manufacturing processes have been used for the fabrication of PDCs, the mechanical properties of which are also included in this review.