Multifold stiffness and fracture toughness enhancement in W‐doped VO2 microcrystals

Abstract

AbstractVanadium dioxide is popular for the metal‐insulator phase transition at 68°C. Chemical doping is one of the effective ways adopted to tune the phase transition temperature, where tungsten is known to reduce the transition temperature of VO2. This work investigates the effect of tungsten doping on the mechanical properties of VO2 microcrystals and their polymer composites. Doping of VO2 with W shows a systematic reduction in phase transition temperature up to 33°C for 4 wt% W‐doped VO2. For 3 wt% W‐doped VO2, the elastic modulus values enhance by 50%. The fracture toughness of 3 wt% W‐doped VO2 shows an enhancement of fourfold compared to the undoped VO2. The dynamic compressive strength of 3 wt% W‐doped VO2–UHMWPE polymer composite at room temperature is found to be 7% higher than the undoped VO2—composite.