Skip to main content

Boron Carbide Nanoparticles and Their Applications

Boron carbide which has the chemical formula of B4C is one of the hardest materials among the ceramics materials after diamond and boron nitride. In addition to its hardness, it has high thermal stability, low density, chemical inertness and neutron capture property. At temperature above 1200 oC, its hardness exceeds that of the diamond. Thus, it is a crucial material for high technology applications such as abrasive for polishing and grinding media, ceramic amour applications for personal purpose and equipment, blasting nozzles, ceramic bearings, semiconductor applications for dielectric barriers, medical and nuclear applications.
B4C (Boron Carbide) Nanoparticles (99.5+%, 40-60nm, Hexagonal) show an outstanding hardness among the ceramic materials. Therefore, boron carbide nanoparticles are a suitable material for many high performance applications. Boron carbide nanoparticles can be used as polishing, lapping and grinding material for hard materials such as cemented carbides and technical ceramics. When boron carbide is sintered, it is also used as blasting nozzles, ceramic bearing and wire drawing dies due to excellent wear resistance. Due to high impact resistance and low specific weight, boron carbide nanoparticles are suitable for body and vehicle armor to protect against projectile and ballistic threats.
Boron carbide nanoparticles can also be used as coating materials for various materials and applications such as coating the blade tools and they are used for cutting various alloys such as stainless steel, titanium and aluminum alloys. Also, boron carbide nanoparticles can be used as a thin film on the ultra high density disk drives. Moreover, stainless steel tools can be coated via plasma-sprayed boron carbide to provide protection against to thermal shocks from destruction load. Boron carbide nanoparticles are used in many nuclear application as control rod, shielding material and neutron detectors due to its neutron capture properties [15]. High boron content shows good chemical inertness and high refractoriness. Moreover, boron carbide is used in nuclear fusion reactors due to its thermal conductivity and thermal shock resistance. There are also several aerospace applications that currently use boron carbide nanoparticles instead of Be/Be alloys due to its high stiffness, low density and low thermal expansion. Boron carbide nanoparticles are also used as reinforcement material in order to strength the medium such as in plastic matrixes.
Boron carbide nanoparticles are also used in electronic devices that can be operated at high temperatures such as thermoelastic devices and semiconductor applications for dielectric barriers. Nowadays many researchers work on boron carbide nanoparticles to obtain materials with high performance. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Carbon Nanotube Threads

Since its discovery, carbon nanotube (CNT) has attracted many interests in different technology fields due to its extraordinary properties. Properties such as, high strength, great electrical and thermal conductivity, light weight and flexibility made CNT one of the best materials for wide range of applications. However, from its name it can be understood that CNT is a nanoscale material which is very small to be applied for the production of daily products. Researchers all around the world are working on finding methods and techniques which could produce new materials with the extraordinary properties of CNT. Image retrieved from:  https://worldindustrialreporter.com/strong-light-flexible-carbon-nanotubes-threads-with-ultrahigh-conductivity/ One of these research is focusing on the production of high strength threads that can be used in the manufacturing of fabrics, cables and ropes. An international group of scientists were able to produce a flexible conductive thread that i

Multi Walled Carbon Nanotube Dispersions

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)  have attracted enormous attention in recent years due to its unique physical, electronic, optical and potential applications in materials science and nanotechnology. The van der Waals interaction between tubes, however, makes CNTs aggregate in most organic solvents and aqueous solutions, which is the major limitation of their practical applications.Various approaches have been studied to alter the CNT surface to promote the dispersion of individual nanotubes and prevent their reaggregation. On the basis of this widely accepted viewpoint, numerous techniques such as covalent bonding, surfactant coating and polymer wrapping have been developed for surface modification or sidewall functionalization.These methods, however, are complicated, time-consuming and cause permanent damage to the CNT structure and properties of the surface, which produces residues of the dispersion agent for the final product. Figure: Single Walled Carbon Nanotube (SWCNT) It has re

Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder and Applications

General Information about Magnesium Oxide Magnesium oxide which has the chemical formula of MgO, is a white hygroscopic solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of Magnesium. It is a white powder at room temperature. Magnesium Oxide has very high melting point (2825  o C) and boiling point (3600  o C).                                                                                                                                                                                Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder and Usage Areas                                        Magnesium Oxide nanoparticles/nanopowder  can be used in many different areas. For example Magnesium Oxide nanoparticles/nanopowder are used as a fire retardant for chemical fiber and plastics trades. For making crucible, smelter, insulated conduit, electrode bar, and electrode sheet  Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder  can be used as electric insulating material. Magnesium Oxide nan