Material boron carbides

Naturally occurring boron consists of two isotopes 10B, which comprises about 20%, and nB, which makes up the remaining 80%. This results in the average atomic mass being 10.8 amu. 10B has the ability to absorb slow neutrons to a great extent. Therefore, it finds application in reactors as control rods and protective shields. However, because boron itself is very brittle (and, therefore, nonmalleable), it must be combined or alloyed with a more workable material. Boron carbide is often mixed with aluminum and then processed into the desired shape. 

Control rod neutron absorber material boron carbide... 

Ye If Rod - A horizontal control rod with poison material (Boron Carbide) only on the innermost "half of the rod. The fraction which contains absorber varies In the different... 

Absorber rods in the shutdown systems are standardized in terms of absorber element diameter and number in the shroud tube and also in terms of the dimensions of the shroud tube with rods developed for the BN-800 reactor. The effective density of the absorber material, boron carbide, is also standardized. Five rods are intended for reactor emergency protection, five rods for compensation of the reactivity effects (all rods with B enrichment of 60%) and two rods with natural boron carbide for power control. The reactivity balance during reactor refuelling is given in Table XXI-3. 

Except for siUca and natural abrasives containing free siUca, the abrasive materials used today are classified by NIOSH as nuisance dust materials and have relatively high permissable dust levels (55). The OSHA TWA allowable total dust level for aluminum oxide, siUcon carbide, boron carbide, ceria, and other nuisance dusts is 10 mg/m. SiUca, in contrast, is quite toxic as a respkable dust for cristobaUte [14464-46-1] and tridymite [15468-32-3] the allowable TWA level drops to 0.05 mg/m and the TWA for quartz [14808-60-7] is set at 0.1 mg/m. Any abrasive that contains free siUca in excess of 1% should be treated as a potential health hazard if it is in the form of respkable dust. Dust masks are requked for those exposed to such materials (see Industrial hygene). 

Research-grade material may be prepared by reaction of pelleted mixtures of titanium dioxide and boron at 1700°C in a vacuum furnace. Under these conditions, the oxygen is eliminated as a volatile boron oxide (17). Technical grade (purity > 98%) material may be made by the carbothermal reduction of titanium dioxide in the presence of boron or boron carbide. The endothermic reaction is carried out by heating briquettes made from a mixture of the reactants in electric furnaces at 2000°C (11,18,19). 

Boron carbide is used in the shielding and control of nuclear reactors (qv) because of its neutron absorptivity, chemical inertness, and radiation stabihty. For this appHcation it may be molded, bonded, or the granular material may be packed by vibration. 

Handbook on Boron Carbide, Elemental Boron, and Other Stable, Boron-BJch Materials, Norton Co., Worcester, Mass., 1955. 

Diamondlike Carbides. SiUcon and boron carbides form diamondlike carbides beryllium carbide, having a high degree of hardness, can also be iacluded. These materials have electrical resistivity ia the range of semiconductors (qv), and the bonding is largely covalent. Diamond itself may be considered a carbide of carbon because of its chemical stmeture, although its conductivity is low. 

Control of the nuclear chain reaction in a reactor is maintained by the insertion of rods containing neutron absorbing materials such as boron, boron carbide, or borated steel. In state-of-the-art high temperature reactor designs, such as the Gas... 

Properties of the deposits Almost any material which can be melted is suitable for plasma spraying, giving a vast range of possible coatings of single or mixed metallic or non-metallic substances. It is often possible to produce types of coatings which are not obtainable in any other way. Typical of the materials which are plasma sprayed are copper, nickel, tantalum, molybdenum. Stellites, alumina, zirconia, tungsten and boron carbides, and stainless steels. 

Boron carbide is a non-metallic covalent material with the theoretical stoichiometric formula, B4C. Stoichiometry, however, is rarely achieved and the compound is usually boron rich. It has a rhombohedral structure with a low density and a high melting point. It is extremely hard and has excellent nuclear properties. Its characteristics are summarized in Table 9.2. 

Janson, U., Chemical Vapor Deposition of Boron Carbides, Materials and Manufacturing Processes, 6(3) 481-500 (1991)... 

Figure 74 The polyhexenyldecaborane (128) used in the production of nanostructured boron carbide materials by nanoscale templating methods utilizing porous alumina templates.

On heating in air at 10°C per min, poly(m-carborane-siloxane) shows typically only 4% mass loss at 450°C and 7% mass loss at 600°C (see Fig. 4). In comparison, siloxanes without carborane units, show an approximate 50% mass loss at 450°C. As a consequence of the relatively high boron and carbon content of these materials, pyrolysis is expected to generate ceramic residues of boron carbide/silicon carbide. 

In thick samples, a boron oxide/boron carbide crust has been detected on the surface of the polymer. This inorganic surface layer has a shielding effect on the inner polymer layers, further enhancing the thermal stability of the material. Poly(m-carborane-siloxane)s have therefore been considered as surface coatings for organic materials, providing protection from erosion effects. 

Boron-containing nonoxide amorphous or crystalline advanced ceramics, including boron nitride (BN), boron carbide (B4C), boron carbonitride (B/C/N), and boron silicon carbonitride Si/B/C/N, can be prepared via the preceramic polymers route called the polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) route, using convenient thermal and chemical processes. Because the preparation of BN has been the most in demand and widespread boron-based material during the past two decades, this chapter provides an overview of the conversion of boron- and nitrogen-containing polymers into advanced BN materials. 

Naturally occurring boron consists of approximately 20% of 10B and 80% of UB, leading to an average atomic mass of 10.8 amu. Because 10B has a relatively large cross-section for absorption of slow (thermal) neutrons, it is used in control rods in nuclear reactors and in protective shields. In order to obtain a material that can be fabricated into appropriate shapes, boron carbide is combined with aluminum. 

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