Pulsed electric current sintered Cr₂O₃-rGO composites

Chromium oxide is a promising material for applications where excellent corrosion resistance, high hardness, and high wear resistance are needed. However, its use is limited because of low fracture toughness. Improvement of fracture toughness of chromium oxide while maintaining its afore mentioned key properties is therefore of high interest. In this communication we study the possibility of increasing the toughness of pulsed electric current sintered (PECS) chromium oxide by the addition of graphene oxide (GO). The indentation fracture toughness was improved markedly with the addition of graphene oxide. Materials prepared by direct chemical homogenization had better fracture toughness. In composites with 10 vol.% GO piling of thin graphene oxide layers resulted in the formation of graphite layers between Cr₂O₃ and in carbide formation, which were observed to be the main reasons for the degradation of the mechanical properties. The distribution of graphene oxide was more homogeneous, when the GO amount was 0.1 vol.% and the formation of graphitic layers were avoided due to lesser amount of GO as well as ultrasonic treatment following the ball milling.