Reveal of relationship between microscopy architecture and mechanical performance of Y/Bi substituted Bi-2212 engineering ceramics.

This study aims to find out how the crystallinity quality, surface morphology, and mechanical performances change with the substitution of yttrium (Y) for bismuth (Bi) impurity within molar ratios of 0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.12 in the Bi_2.0-xY_xSr_2.0Ca_1.1Cu_2.0O_y (Bi-2212) cuprates to reveal the dependence of micro surface topology on the substitution mechanism and achieve a strong relation between the impurity ions and crystallization mechanism. The materials are prepared by ceramic method. It is found that all the experimental findings improve remarkably with increasing yttrium impurity molar ratio of x = 0.01. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images indicate that the optimum Y ions strengthen the formation of flaky adjacent stacked layers due to the changes of thermal expansion, vibration amplitude of atoms, heat capacitance, reaction kinetics, activation energy, nucleation temperature, thermodynamic stability, and intermolecular forces. Besides, new engineering novel compound produced by optimum Y ions presents the best crystallinity quality, uniform surface view, greatest coupling interaction between grains, largest particle size distributions/orientations, and densest/smoothest surface morphology. Hardness measurement results totally support the surface morphology view. Moreover, mechanical design properties and durability of the tetragonal phase improve significantly with increasing replacement level of x = 0.01 due to the induction of new surface residual compressive stress areas, slip systems, and chemical bonding between the foreign and host atoms. Besides, the same sample exhibits the maximum strength and minimum sensitivity to loads depending on reduction of stored internal strain energy and degree of granularity. Consequently, cracks tend to propagate predominantly within the transcrystalline regions. Furthermore, each material investigated exhibits the characteristic behavior of the indentation size effect. In summary, the optimum Y-doped Bi-2212 sample paves the way for the expanded use of engineering ceramics across various applications based on the enhanced service life. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: The presence of the optimum yttrium impurity significantly decreases the E_a value. As the Y/Bi replacement increases up to the molar substitution level of x = 0.01, the mechanical design properties and durability of the tetragonal phase enhance significantly.