The effect of different sources of porous carbon on the synthesis of nanostructured boron carbide by magnesiothermic reduction

Boron carbide (B4C) is an advanced engineering ceramic with properties that are improved in highly densified materials. A possible alternative to the use of sintering additives may be the use of nanostructured B4C powders. This paper reports the synthesis of nanostructured boron carbide by magnesiothermic reduction of boron oxide and porous carbons derived from synthetic ZSM-5 zeolite, mesoporous SBA-15 silicate or mesoporous MCM-48. The syntheses were carried out under argon with different mass ratios of boron oxide, carbon and magnesium. The ZSM-5, SBA-15 and MCM-48 templates and the corresponding porous carbon products were characterized by BET, XRD, TGA, SEM and EDX. The effect of the type and content of the carbon reactant on the boron carbide synthesis suggests that in addition to the type of carbon, the nature of the template is an important factor in the synthesis of nanostructured boron carbide.