Al2O3/Al hybrid nanolaminates with superior toughness, strength and ductility
Amorphous alumina is hard but brittle like all ceramic type materials which affects durability under impact or scratch. Here we show that alumina layers below 100 nm thickness when stacked with aluminum interlayers exhibit exceptional performances including toughness equal to 300 J.m<sup>-2</sup> determined by on chip nanomechanics. This is almost two orders of magnitude higher than bulk alumina and higher than any other thin hard coatings. In addition, a hardness above 8 GPa combines with a fracture strain above 5%. The origin of this superior set of properties is unravelled via in-situ TEM and mechanical models. The combination of constrained alumina layers with ductile behavior, strong "accommodating" interfaces, giant shear deformability of Al layers, and plasticity-controlled crack shielding cooperate to stabilize deformation, dissipate energy and arrest cracks. These performances unlock several options of applications of Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> in which brittleness under contacts prevents benefiting from remarkable functional properties and chemical stability.
Authors
- Nicolas Gauquelin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5555-7055)
- Audrey Favache (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5574-4750)
- Hosni Idrissi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1043-5409)
- Alireza Bagherpour (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0560-6899)
- Sahar Jaddi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5802-8647)
- Thomas Pardoen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0569-9466)
- Michaël Coulombier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0025-5711)
- Stéphane Lucas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3229-9855)
- Johan Verbeeck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4923-1032)
- Frederik Van Loock (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0581-2238)
- Andrey Orekhov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7517-5484)
- Morgan Rusinowicz
- Paul Baral (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8586-0733)
- Hui Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0153-2116)
- Jean-Pierre Raskin
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Antwerp (BE)
- University of Namur (BE)
- Mines Saint-Étienne (FR)
- Walloon Excellence in Lifesciences and Biotechnology (BE)
- Eindhoven University of Technology (NL)
- UCLouvain (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-02-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56512-7
- Citations
- 14
- Primary Topic
- Advanced ceramic materials synthesis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 10.18
Funders
- Université Catholique de Louvain
- Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS