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Properties and Uses of Boron Carbide

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Update time : 2020-10-28 11:23:50

What is boron carbide?

Boron carbide is a black metallic shiny crystal, commonly known as black diamond. It is a powdered product made by adding boric acid as the main raw material, adding petroleum coke and other carbonaceous materials, through high-temperature solid smelting and crushing. It is combined with diamond and cubic nitride. Boron is also a superhard material.


Boron carbide is insoluble in water and organic solvents, has strong chemical stability, is resistant to acid and alkali corrosion, and hardly reacts with all acid and alkali solutions. Boron carbide also has the following characteristics: it has a large thermal neutron capture cross-section, and has a strong neutron absorption capacity, so it is called a neutron absorber; it is semiconducting.

Properties and uses of boron carbide

Boron carbide (B4C) is gray-black and is a very hard man-made material with a Mohs hardness of 9.3 and a microhardness of 5500-6700kg/mm2, second only to diamond and cubic boron nitride. The crystal structure of boron carbide is a hexagonal crystal. The density is 2.52g/cm3. The melting point is 2450°C, and it decomposes and volatilizes quickly when the temperature is higher than 2800°C. Its linear expansion coefficient is 4.5×10-6/℃(20~1000℃), thermal conductivity is 121.42(100℃)W(m·K), 62.80(700℃)W/(m·K), resistivity It is 0.44(20℃)Ω·cm, 0.02(500℃)Ω·cm. Boron carbide is resistant to acid and alkali corrosion and does not wet with most molten metals, and has a fairly high chemical stability. Boron carbide can resist air oxidation at 1000°C, but it can easily be oxidized above 900°C in an oxidizing atmosphere. Boron carbide powder has a very high grinding ability, more than 50% of the grinding ability of silicon carbide, and 1 to 2 times higher than that of corundum. It is an excellent abrasive and wear-resistant material.


The biggest use of boron carbide powder is as a raw material for abrasives and manufacturing abrasives. It is suitable for grinding, polishing and drilling of various hard alloy tools, molds, parts, components and gems. With proper amount of engine oil or water as lubricant, boron carbide can be made into abrasive paste and polishing paste. Boron carbide can also be used as a raw material for manufacturing metal borides, boron alloys, and boron steel. Except for special needs, it can be used to manufacture boron carbide hot-pressed products, as wear-resistant and high-temperature parts, such as nozzles, sealing rings, gyroscopes, petrochemical parts, and light-weight and high-strength parts in military engineering. The control rod of an atomic reactor.


TRUNNANO (aka. Luoyang Tongrun Nano Technology Co. Ltd.) is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12 years’ experience in providing super high quality chemicals and Nano materials. The B4C powder produced by our company has high purity, fine particle size and impurity content. Lower, please contact us if necessary.

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