Ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) are interesting materials for a large variety of applications under extreme conditions. This paper reports on the production and extensive characterization of highly dense, pure zirconium and tantalum diborides, with particular interest to their potential utilization in the thermal solar energy field. Monolithic bulk samples are produced by Spark Plasma Sintering starting from elemental reactants or using metal diboride powders previously synthesized by Self-propagating High-temperature Synthesis (SHS). Microstructural and optical properties of products obtained by the two processing methods have been comparatively evaluated. We found that pure diborides show a good spectral selectivity, which is an appealing characteristic for solar absorber applications. No, or very small, differences in the optical properties have been evidenced when the two investigated processes adopted for the fabrication of dense TaB2 and ZrB2, respectively, are compared
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.