Computational and Microstructural Stability Analysis of Shock Wave Interaction with NbB₂-B₄C-Based Nanostructured Ceramics

Abstract

Despite extensive research on developing different transition metal boride composites for aero-thermostructural applications, the understanding of the shockwave interaction using high pressure shock testing facilities and computational simulation of such interactions are much less explored. This aspect is even more important for much less explored ceramics, like NbB 2 -based materials. While addressing this aspect, the present investigation reports the thermostructural stability of spark plasma sintered NbB 2 -(0-40) mol % B 4 C composites under the hypersonic aerothermodynamic conditions using a miniature detonation-driven shock tube facility. All the ceramic discs underwent mild surface oxidation, as a consequence to impulsive load together with the thermomechanical shock. Using the in situ recorded pressure pulse data together with conjugate heat transfer analysis, spatiotemporal evolution of ceramic surface temperature was computationally analyzed for the given test conditions. Importantly, the NbB 2 -(0 and 20) mol % B 4 C composite retained structural integrity even after exposure to 10 shock pulses with maximum reflected shock temperature and pressure of 5000 K and 37.5 MPa, respectively. In contrast, NbB 2 -40 mol % B 4 C underwent structural failure by shattering to pieces. An attempt has been made to rationalize such results on the basis of thermal shock resistance parameters, estimated using the Kingery and Hasselman model. It is observed that NbB 2 -(0 and 20) mol % B 4 C shows higher crack propagation resistance, that is, 20 and 30%, respectively, under thermal shock (R″) than NbB 2 -40 mol % B 4 C. Interestingly, all the shock exposed NbB 2 -B 4 C ceramics show a measurable increase in hardness, which is attributed to transient melting and solidification of constituent phases due to interaction with shock heated gas, for a short duration of ∼5 ms. Taken together, the present study establishes the potential of NbB 2 -B 4 C composites for aero-thermostructural applications.

Sustainability of the crystallographic phase stability of the barium carbonate nanoparticles at dynamic shocked conditions

“…Note that the title material possesses high-shock resistance as compared to the technologically prominent metal oxide nano-crystalline materials as that of anatase-TiO 2 , Co 3 O 4 and α-Fe 2 O 3 [19][20][21]. In addition to that, similar kinds of high-shock-resistant materials also have been identified by this technique and they are CeO 2 [17], Broolite-TiO 2 [25] MnFe 2 O 4 [28], and NbB 2 -B 4 C [41].…”

High Shock Resistance of Polycrystalline Sodium Sulfate Crystals at Dynamic Shocked Conditions

“…[4][5][6] In recent years, the outcomes of the impact of dynamic shock waves on crystalline materials have made it a hot research topic because of the obtained outstanding response on the crystal structures and their functional properties which provide ideal inputs for the technologically important applications. [7][8][9][10] It is quite worthwhile to explore the structure-property relationship of the materials at shocked conditions which would lead to new ways with which novel functional materials can be identified and those materials may not exhibit the same properties as that of in the ambient temperature. Based on the literature reports, the impact of shock waves on materials could make enormous changes in property, phase, stability, etc.…”

Spontaneous dynamical disordering of borophenes in MgB2 and related metal borides

“…Materials containing two-dimensional boron sheets, including metal diborides (MB 2 ), represent a rich and diverse class of materials with a potentially high degree of structural and electronic tunability 1 , 2 . As such, these layered materials and closely related borophene sheets, crystalline atomic monolayers of boron, have attracted interest in a wide variety of applications, including hydrogen storage 3 , superconductivity 4 , electrocatalysis 5 – 10 , optoelectronics 11 , and thermal 12 , 13 and corrosion resistance 14 . In several of these applications, the specific MB 2 surface properties play an outsized role in determining the overall behavior (for example, surface-dependent electrocatalytic function 15 ).…”