Reaction‐bonded B 4 C/SiC composites synthesized by microwave heating

Mathieu Dutto (1) , Dominique Goeuriot (1) , Sébastien Saunier (1) , Sylvain Marinel (2) , Nachum Frage (3) , Shmuel Hayun (3)

1 MPE-ENSMSE - Département Mécanique et Procédés d'Elaboration
2 CRISMAT - Laboratoire de cristallographie et sciences des matériaux
3 BGU - Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

The reaction-bonding technique was used to synthesize boron carbide (B4C) - silicon carbide (SiC) composites by microwave heating. Preforms of porous B4C were obtained by compaction followed or not by partial densification. Then, the material was infiltrated by molten silicon under a microwave heating. The influence of the thermal cycles (T: 1400-1500°C, t: 5-120 minutes) is low. The hardness of boron carbide is comparable to that of alumina (15-19 GPa) for a much lower density (≈2.5 g/cm3 for B4C-based material instead of 3.95 g/cm3 for alumina). These properties make this composite, obtained by microwave heating, a good candidate for ballistic applications.

Keywords: Boron carbide; Microwaves; Reaction bonding

Domains: Chemical Sciences; Material chemistry

Mathieu Dutto, Dominique Goeuriot, Sébastien Saunier, Sylvain Marinel, Nachum Frage, et al.. Reaction‐bonded B 4 C/SiC composites synthesized by microwave heating. International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology, 2019, 16 (4), pp.1287-1294. ⟨10.1111/ijac.13211⟩. ⟨hal-02264680⟩