Demonstrating low‐temperature sintering of boron carbide powders

Abstract

Capability to sinter ceramics, especially carbides, at low temperature, is desired but is a challenge. Recently, cold sintering has been successfully demonstrated with oxides and other ceramics, but not with carbides due to high thermodynamic and chemical stability. In this work, low-temperature sintering of boron carbide (B 4 C) was attempted at 1000-1400°C; the proposed sintering is to form B 4 C nanoparticles with in situ carbothermal reduction from organic liquid-phase precursors (boric acid and glycerin), and then to sinter the formed B 4 C nanoparticles, between B 4 C micropowders, which are expected to increase packing density and enhance diffusion and densification. Formation of B 4 C nanoparticles by in situ carbothermal reduction was confirmed, but only limited densification was observed due to material loss from chemical reactions and lack of pressurization. The achieved relative densities are low (57.7%-62.8%) but comparable with those achieved with pressureless sintering at >2000℃. K E Y W O R D Sboro carbide, field assisted sinterinng, low-temperature sintering ORCID Jingyao Daihttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4668-5055Namiko Yamamoto https://orcid.

Advanced Boron Carbide Matrix Nanocomposites Obtained from Liquid-Charge: Focused Review

“…This is particularly true of carbides. Study [56] attempted this process for boron carbide (B 4 C) at 1000-1400 • C. This approach produces B 4 C nanoparticles from some organic precursors in a liquid state (e.g., glycerol or boric acid) in order to sinter them using an in situ carbothermal reduction. Enhanced diffusion and densification are expected as a result of this method.…”