TY - JOUR AU - Švec, Pavol AU - Gábrišová, Zuzana AU - Brusilová, Alena AU - Čaplovič, Ľubomír PY - 2020/06/04 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - BORON CARBIDE BASED CERAMIC COMPOSITES HOT PRESSED WITH ALUMINIUM ADDITIVE JF - Acta Metallurgica Slovaca JA - Acta Metall Slovaca VL - 26 IS - 2 SE - Research papers DO - 10.36547/ams.26.2.529 UR - https://journals.scicell.org/index.php/AMS/article/view/529 SP - 67-69 AB - <p>Ceramic composite materials consisting of B<sub>4</sub>C matrix and Al<sub>8</sub>B<sub>4</sub>C<sub>7</sub> secondary phase were prepared by in situ reactive sintering of the initial powder mixture B<sub>4</sub>C-Al with concentration from 5 to 25 wt.% Al sintering additives. The composite samples were hot pressed at the temperature of 1850 °C, pressure of 35 MPa, for 15 min in a vacuum atmosphere. The portion of Al<sub>8</sub>B<sub>4</sub>C<sub>7</sub> secondary phase increased from 3.3 to 22.1 wt.% when increasing the concentration of Al sintering additive from 5 to 25 wt.% Al. Significant improving of densification and mechanical properties was measured at increasing of Al sintering additive concentration from 5 to 10 wt.% Al. The highest average hardness of 28.74 GPa was achieved when adding 15 wt.% Al sintering additive. The fracture toughness increased with concentration of Al sintering additive in whole concentration range with the highest average value of 5.92 MPa.m<sup>1/2</sup> at 25 wt.% Al sintering additives.</p> ER -