High pressure and high temperature synthesis of a new boron carbide phase

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The dense boron carbide (B-C) phases with diamond structure are predicted to be superhard, with hardness close to that of a cubic boron nitride (c-BN). At ambient conditions, graphite-like BC3 is well characterized, firstly reported by Kouvetakis et al. In this work, we have synthesized a new B-C phase from the graphite-like BC3 in a laser-heated diamond anvil cell. Interestingly, this phase could be recoverable to ambient pressure due to dynamic stabilities. The Raman spectrum and X-ray diffraction patterns give the possible structure of this new phase.