Boron carbide (B₄C) is highly significant in the production of lightweight protective materials when added to aluminum owing to its exceptional mechanical properties. In this study, a method for fabricating Al-B₄C composites using high-energy ball milling and directed energy deposition (DED) is presented. Al-4 wt.% B₄C composites were fabricated under 21 different laser conditions to analyze the microstructure and mechanical properties at different values of laser power and scan speeds. The composites fabricated at a laser power of 600 W and the same scan speed exhibited the highest hardness and generated the fewest pores. In contrast, the composites fabricated at a laser power of 1000 W exhibited the lowest hardness and generated a significant number of large pores. This can be explained by the influence of the microstructure on the energy density at different values of laser power.

A high temperature dilatometer attached to a graphite furnace is built and used to study the sintering behavior of B₄C. Pristine and carbon doped B₄C compacts are sintered at various soaking temperatures and their shrinkage profiles are detected simultaneously using the dilatometer. Carbon additions enhance the sinterability of B₄C with sintering to more than 97% of the theoretical density, while pristine B₄C compacts could not be sintered above 91% due to particle coarsening. The shrinkage profiles of B₄C reveal that the effect of carbon on the sinterability of B₄C can be seen mostly below 1950°C. The high temperature dilatometer delivers very useful information which is impossible to obtain with conventional furnaces.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

• Application of rate-controlled sintering into the study of sintering behavior of boron carbide
  Hyukjae Lee
  Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology.2015; 25(1): 6.     CrossRef