放电等离子烧结b4c基陶瓷的致密化 微观结构和机械性能-densification microstructure and mechanical properties of b4c - based ceramics sintered by discharge plasma.docxVIP

AbstractBoron carbide (B4C) ceramic has exhibited a unique set of properties such as high melting point (2450°C), low density (2.52 g/cm3, high hardness (26-32 GPa, after diamond and cubic nitride), high elastic modulus (450 GPa), and high temperature semiconductor. B4C is one of the hardest materials and has been used as light weight armors, grinding and cutting tools, abrasive materials, blasting nozzles, neutron radiation absorbent in nuclear reactor and as a wear resistance components. Due to his high hardness (26-32 GPa) and low density of 2.52 g/cm3 enable it very outstanding for armor applications. All of these applications of boron carbide are restricted because the densification of pure B4C to high density has proved very complicated. It is difficult to densify B4C to high density due to the presence of strong covalent bonding, high resistance to grain boundary sliding and low plasticity and low superficial tension in the solid state. Furthermore, the presence of oxide layer (B2O3) coating on the B4C powder surface slows down the consolidation process via evaporation and condensation reactions. Therefore, the sintering of B4C by conventional sintering (hot-pressing, pressureless sintering, etc.) methods is, very high sintering temperature around 2000-2300oC is required with and without any sintering additives which leads to rapid grain coarsening of B4C grains and is still an expensive approach for its consolidation.The motivation of the work demonstrated in this dissertation was to employ the different sintering additives to B4C with an objective to obtain dense compact at relatively lower sintering temperature by applying the novel sintering technique of spark plasma sintering. In past, much attention has been given to spark plasma sintering (SPS) for consolidation of poorly sinterable substances such as carbides, nitrides and borides at lower sintering temperatures. SPS technique is highly capable of generating highly dense compacts with cleaner grain b