Evidence of amorphisation of B4C boron carbide under slow, heavy ion irradiation

Amorphization Mitigation in Boron-Rich Boron Carbides Quantified by Raman Spectroscopy

“…The sudden failure of boron carbide under impact has been attributed to amorphization, the formation of nanometer-sized bands that form as a result of high stresses or impacts [6,7]. Amorphization has been observed under many various testing conditions, such as indentation [6,[8][9][10][11], scratching techniques [8,12], ballistic impact [7], plate impact testing [13], sufficient electric fields [14], laser shock compression [15], radiation exposure [16,17], and diamond anvil cell experiments [18].…”

Mechanical properties of submicronic and nanometric boron carbides obtained by Spark Plasma Sintering: Influence of B/C ratio and oxygen content

“…The HD powder spectrum can be divided in three characteristic zones [25,26]: (i) two main peaks at 480 cm -1 and 532 cm -1 , which corresponds to the rotation of the chains and the libration of the icosahedra; (ii) a group of peaks from 650 to 900 cm -1 associated to intra-icosahedron vibrations; (iii) high frequency peaks (975, 1002 and 1030 cm -1 ) related to chain stretching, chain-icosahedron and inter-icosahedron vibrations. Regarding TK powder spectrum, the low level of crystallinity leads to band broadening and very low intensity bands [27,28]. In addition, 1355 and 1575 cm -1 bands corresponding to carbon can be observed in both Raman spectra powders [29].…”

Structural modifications of boron carbide irradiated by swift heavy ions

“…Heavy ion irradiation at low energy is usually considered to simulate this type of damage. In the literature, Gosset et al [14][15] have shown that 4 MeV Au irradiation, at Room Temperature (RT), leads to B 4 C amorphization at around 4 dpa. The amorphization is somewhat influenced by the insertion of Au ions in the B 4 C structure which could lower the amorphization threshold.…”