Enhanced Sintering of Boron Carbide-Silicon Composites by Silicon

Abstract

Boron carbide (B4C)-silicon (Si) composites have been prepared by aqueous tape casting, laminating, and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The influences of silicon (Si) content on the phases, microstructure, sintering properties, and mechanical properties of the obtained B4C-Si composites are studied. The results indicate that the addition of Si powder can act as a sintering aid and contribute to the sintering densification. The addition of Si powder can also act as a second phase and contribute to the toughening for composites. The relative density of B4C-Si composites samples with adding 10 wt.% Si powder prepared by SPS at 1600 °C and 50 MPa for 8 min is up to 98.3%. The bending strength, fracture toughness, and Vickers hardness of the sintered samples are 518.5 MPa, 5.87 MPa m1/2, and 38.9 GPa, respectively. The testing temperature-dependent high-temperature bending strength and fracture toughness can reach a maximum value at 1350 °C. The B4C-Si composites prepared at 1600, 1650, and 1700 °C have good high-temperature mechanical properties. This paper provides a facile low-temperature sintering route for B4C ceramics with improved properties.