Type of Document	Thesis
Author	Rivera, Johan Emmanuel
Author's Email Address	jer04f@fsu.edu
URN	etd-10252010-142512
Title	Hardness Characteristics of Unidirectional Nanowire-Alumina Nanocomposites
Degree	Master of Science
Department	Mechanical Engineering, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Juan Carlos Ordonez Committee Member Ongi Englander Committee Member Simone Peterson Hruda Committee Member
Keywords	zinc oxide alumina nanocomposite nanowire CVD sol gel silicon germanium zirconia
Date of Defense	2010-08-20
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract This work explores the fabrication and characterization of very high interfacial area unidirectional nanowire based nanocomposites. Both sol gel deposition techniques and catalyst assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques were used to fabricate the nanowire-based nanocomposites within porous alumina templates. Zirconia-alumina and zinc oxide-alumina nanocomposites were fabricated using sol gel methods while silicon-alumina and germanium-alumina nanocomposites were fabricated using CVD methods. The hardness of the different nanocomposites was established by means of microindentation. Hardness testing of fabricated nanocomposites was performed at room temperature, following a single annealing step and following thermal cycling at elevated temperatures. The hardness values were compared to expected values based on tabulated hardness values and the volumetric percentage of each of the components in the composite. All of the nanocomposites show an increase in hardness following the anneal process. The zinc oxide based nanocomposites consistently show a significant deviation from expected values. Hardness values following the cyclic testing do not illustrate a consistent trend across the various nanocomposites.
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