Sintering Kinetics of Pure and Doped Boron Carbide

Abstract

The sintering of pure and doped boron carbide was investigated over the temperature range 1898 to 2380/sup 0/K and at additive levels ranging from 0.75 to 10.0%. The addition of 0.75 and 3.8 wt% of AlF/sub 3/, Ni, Fe, and Cu deactivated the sintering of B/sub 4/C at all temperatures. In contrast, the addition of 10.0 wt% these additives resulted in enhanced shrinkage in B/sub 4/C for the temperatures 1898 and 2133/sup 0/K. At the highest temperature, 2380/sup 0/K, the addition of 10.0 wt% AlF/sub 3/ was the only case where enhanced shrinkage was observed. In this case, x-ray analysis showed the formation of a B/sub 12/C/sub 2/Al compound and the release of fluorine. These results are interpreted in terms of a grain-boundary diffusion process for pure and doped B/sub 4/C.