Thermal boron carbides

Carbide-based cermets have particles of carbides of tungsten, chromium, and titanium. Tungsten carbide in a cobalt matrix is used in machine parts requiring very high hardness such as wire-drawing dies, valves, etc. Chromium carbide in a cobalt matrix has high corrosion and abrasion resistance it also has a coefficient of thermal expansion close to that of steel, so is well-suited for use in valves. Titanium carbide in either a nickel or a cobalt matrix is often used in high-temperature applications such as turbine parts. Cermets are also used as nuclear reactor fuel elements and control rods. Fuel elements can be uranium oxide particles in stainless steel ceramic, whereas boron carbide in stainless steel is used for control rods. 

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. 

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-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. 

From Eq. (11), an obviously desirable characteristic for thermoelectric materials is to have low thermal conductivity k. The thermal diffusivity constant, Dt, of ErB44Si2 has been found to have small values of Dt < 1.1 x 10 2 cm 2/s (Mori, 2006c). These values are significantly smaller than what has been observed for boron carbide samples (Wood et ah, 1985). Although no data exists for the sound velocities of ErB44Si2, the velocities are probably high since borides are typically hard materials. Therefore, the small values of Dt indicate extremely short phonon... 

Silicon carbide, widely employed as an abrasive (carborundum), is finding increasing use as a refractory. It has a better thermal conductivity at high temperatures than any other ceramic and is very resistant to abrasion and corrosion especially when bonded with silicon nitride. Hot-pressed, self-bonded SiC may be suitable as a container for the fuel elements in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors and also for the structural parts of the reactors. Boron carbide, which is even harder than silicon carbide, is now readily available commercially because of its value as a radiation shield, and is being increasingly used as an abrasive. 

Boron carbide is the control material used in thermal and fast reactorsThe absorption of neutrons by B-10 results in primary formation of Li-7, helium, tritium ... 

The fast-neutron-capture cross section of B-10 is greater than for any other isotope. Boron carbide has a boron concentration of 85% of that of elemental boron, and 19.8% of the boron is B-10, or 14.7% in boron carbide. The thermal neutron absorption cross section of B-10 is 4000 barns and of natural B4CN 600 barns. 

Boron carbide (B4C) is one of the hardest known materials with excellent properties of low density, very high chemical and thermal stability, and high neutron absorption cross-section. Bulk B4C is conventionally synthesized by high temperature (up to 2400 °C) reactions, such as the carbothermal reduction of boric acid or boron oxide. Nanocrystalline B4C was solvothermally synthesized in CCI4 at 600 °C (Reaction (32)). 

Figure 7—92. Thermal ICP reactor for boron carbide produetion by BCI3 eonversion in hydrocarbon plasma (1) RF generator, (2) discharge chamber, (3) argon injection system, (4) RF inductor, (5) water-cooling system, (6) distributor of reagents.

Injection molding of boron carbide with 2-5 mass.-% carbon black was developed by Schwetz et al. [210]. Like in conventional processes known for oxide and nitride ceramics, the spray-dried powder blend was mixed with 18 mass-% organic binder and molded at 120°C and 45 MPa. Dewaxing was accomplished by heating in an atmosphere-controlled furnace at 100 mbar. The binder components decomposed thermally by cracking and evaporated within four days and temperatures up to... 

The large cross section for thermal neutrons makes boron carbide an interesting candidate for absorption or retardation of neutron radiation in power plants and as first-wall coating in fusion reactors. The cross section for °B is approximately 4000 barn, which is naturally present in boron carbide at 19.9%. 

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