Design and Fabrication of a Nanoamorphous Interface Layer in B₄C/Al Composites to Improve Hot Deformability and Corrosion Resistance

Abstract

In this paper, to improve the hot deformability and corrosion resistance, a nanoamorphous B 2 O 3 layer was designed and fabricated between B 4 C particles and an Al matrix successfully. The B 4 C@B 2 O 3 /Al composites were prepared by a hot-pressed sintering method. By contrast, the B 4 C/Al composites were synthesized using the same preparation method. The results show that the existence of an amorphous layer can effectively inhibit the formation of Al 3 BC, AlB 12 , and other reaction products at the interface, compared with B 4 C/Al composites. At the same time, the existence of an amorphous B 2 O 3 layer can reduce the maximum deformation resistance of the composites under the compression conditions of 500 °C and 0.001 s −1 , to about 76% lower than that of the B 4 C/Al composites, and improve the hot deformability significantly. Furthermore, the corrosion current density of B 4 C@B 2 O 3 /Al composites is 82.5% lower than that of the B 4 C/Al composites. The good corrosion resistance makes B 4 C@B 2 O 3 /Al composites a potential neutron shielding material. KEYWORDS: amorphous B 2 O 3 layer, B 4 C/Al composites, interface structure, high-temperature compression, corrosion resistance

Recent Progress in Gd-Containing Materials for Neutron Shielding Applications: A Review

“…Casting is a common method for preparing AMCs. For B 4 C/Al composite, but the high B 4 C content could impair the formability during the casting process [ 116 ]. Incorporating a smaller amount of Gd instead of B 4 C has been shown to significantly enhance the plasticity and formability of AMCs while maintaining similar neutron shielding efficiency.…”

Immobilization of boronic acid derivative onto the magnetic Gd-containing composites

“…However, to increase the interfacial adhesion between BN and the polymer matrix, additional modification with coupling agents is needed [5], which might cause additional expenses. For this purpose, a B 4 C/epoxy composite was developed [6]. However, the thickness of such a coating for 80% absorption of neutron fluence was almost 9.8 mm at 3 wt% of B 4 C (particles 150µm).…”

Novel ratiometric electrochemical sensing platform for uric acid based on electroactive cuprous oxide nanocubes combined with boron carbide

“…Graphene 13,14 and carbon nanotubes 15,16 have excellent conductivity and can effectively improve the electrochemical performance of electrode surfaces, and consequently they have been widely employed in the fabrication of electrochemical sensors. Studies have shown that nanosized boron carbide (B 4 C), a new type of carbon-based material, [17][18][19][20] not only has a similar conductivity to graphene and carbon nanotubes, but has a large specific surface area, which means it could be expected to immobilize Cu 2 O and improve the conductivity and catalytic activity of Cu 2 O-based electrodes, thereby improving the sensitivity of the sensor.…”