Elevated temperature thermal properties of ZrB2-B4C ceramics

Abstract

The elevated temperature thermal properties of zirconium diboride ceramics containing boron carbide additions of up to 15 vol% were investigated using a combined experimental and modeling approach. The addition of B4C led to a decrease in the ZrB2 grain size from 22 µm for nominally pure ZrB2 to 5.4 µm for ZrB2 containing 15 vol% B4C. The measured room temperature thermal conductivity decreased from 93 W/m·K for nominally pure ZrB2 to 80 W/m·K for ZrB2 containing 15 vol% B4C. The thermal conductivity also decreased as temperature increased. For nominally pure ZrB2, the thermal conductivity was 67 W/m·K at 2000 °C compared to 55 W/m·K for ZrB2 containing 15 vol% B4C. A model was developed to describe the effects of grain size and the second phase additions on thermal conductivity from room temperature to 2000 °C. Differences between model predictions and measured values were less than 2 W/m·K at 25 °C for nominally pure ZrB2 and less than 6 W/m·K when 15 vol% B4C was added.