Low Cost, High-Purity Boron-Rich Boron Carbide Powders for Lightweight Aerospace Structures

For this SBIR Phase I program, TRS Ceramics and the Georgia Institute of Technology will develop a powder modification process and optimized sintering atmospheres for the fabrication of stoichiometric, high-density B4C ceramics. Use of carborane additivesis proposed to 1) increase the boron content in normally carbon-rich commercial powders and 2) improve the dispersion of B4C particles during sintering. In addition, Georgia Tech will study the effect of sintering atmosphere on the densification of B4Cand develop an optimized mixture of gases to further aid in B2O3 reduction. The goal of this work is to achieve B4C densities in excess of 97% of theoretical without hot pressing thus allowing near net shape fabrication of a broad variety of B4Cstructural components.B4C currently has limited commercial potential due to the high cost of producing hot pressed ceramics. The high quality ceramics produced by pressureless sintering as a result of this work will be low enough in cost for the materialsto be used in a number of moderate to high volume commercial applications including brake pads for trucks and construction equipment, machine tools, and lightweight structural components for aerospace applications.