Cluster compounds boron carbide

There are a number of papers in the open literature explicitly reporting on the properties of boron cluster compounds for potential neutron capture applications.1 Such applications make full use of the 10B isotope and its relatively high thermal neutron capture cross section of 3.840 X 10 28 m2 (barns). Composites of natural rubber incorporating 10B-enriched boron carbide filler have been investigated by Gwaily et al. as thermal neutron radiation shields.29 Their studies show that thermal neutron attenuation properties increased with boron carbide content to a critical concentration, after which there was no further change. 

Boron carbide is often represented as B4C, but this is only a rough empirical formula. The compound is thought to consist of dodecahedral clusters of 12 boron atoms associated with linear rods of 3 carbon atoms, but the stoichiometry is highly variable and can range from BeCs to B4C. Boron carbide is extremely hard (9.3 on the Mohs scale) and is used as an abrasive. 

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