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1 Introduction
Boron carbide (B4C) ceramics have been widely
used for a variety of structural applications due to their
extremely high hardness, wear resistance, low specific
gravity and high chemical stability. However, the boron
carbide used as a structural material was limited by two
major drawbacks, namely, the low fracture toughness of
B4C and the very high temperature required for its
sintering. Nearly, fully densification cannot be achieved
by pressureless sintering and can be attained in pure B4C
only by hot pressing above 2 300 C [1]. Many efforts
have been made to improve the densification of B4C by
introducing sintering aids including metals (Al, Ti)
[23], oxides (Al2O3, ZrO2) [45] and non-oxides (W2B5,
TiC) [67], as well as B and C [89].
Recently, it has been found that the addition of TiO2
into B4C along with the stoichiometric amount of C
greatly reduces the sintering temperature and increases
the toughness and strength [10]. The sintering process
involves the conversion of TiO2 to TiB2 according to the
following reaction:
2TiO2+3C+B4C2TiB2+4CO
(1)
2 Experimental
Commercially available B4C powder with an
average particle size of 3.5 m was used. The B4C
powder was mixed with high purity (99.9%) nano-size
TiO 2 (smaller than 50 nm) and graphite powders by
Corresponding author: WANG Yu-jin; Tel: +86-451-86402040-8403; Fax: +86-451-86414291; E-mail: wangyujin_hit@163.com
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Sintered
(B4C)/ (TiB2)/
%
%
Theoretical
density/
(gcm3)
79.42
16.79
3.79
90
10
2.718
65.19
28.41
6.40
80
20
2.916
54.75
36.92
8.33
70
30
3.114
46.77
43.44
9.79
60
40
3.312
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Fig. 2 SEM images of polished TiB2/B4C composites: (a) 10%TiB2/B4C; (b) 20%TiB2/B4C; (c) 30%TiB2/B4C; (d) 40%TiB2/B4C
Fig. 3 TEM images of TiB2/B4C composites: (a) Twinned structure in B4C; (b) Dislocation microstructure near small TiB2 particles in
B4C grains; (c) Nano-sized TiB2 particles in B4C grain; (d) Large TiB2 particles located at grain boundaries or triple junctions
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4 Conclusions
1) TiB2/B4C composites exhibit a composite
microstructure where TiB2 particles are dispersed
uniformly in a fine grained B4C matrix.
2) The fracture toughness increases steadily with
increasing TiB2 content, reaching the maximum value of
8.2MPam1/2 at 40% (volume fraction) TiB2.
3) The main toughening mechanisms are
microcracks toughening and deflection toughening of
propagating cracks caused by the thermal expansion
mismatch between TiB2 and B4C.
References
Fig. 5 Flexural strength and fracture toughness as function of
volume fraction of TiB2 for TiB2/B4C composites
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
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TiB2 TiB2/B4C
1, 2, 2, 1, 1
1. 150001
2. , BS8 1TR
B4C, TiO2 (2 050 C35 MPa1 h) TiB2
10%~40%() TiB2/B4C
B4C TiB2 TiB2
40%()TiB2/B4C
8.2 MPam1/2
TiB2/B4C
(Edited by LI Yan-hong)