High-energy ball milling of powder B–C mixtures

The present work reports on the preparation of B–10 at.% C and B–18 at.% C powders by high-energy ball milling and further heat treatment. The milling process was carried out in a planetary ball mill. Following the milling process, powder samples were heat-treated at 1200 °C for 4 h using inert atmosphere. The milled and heat-treated B–10C and B–18C powders were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. A reduction on the intensity of B and C peaks was noticed after milling for 2 h, probably due the fine powder particle sizes because the pronounced fracture mechanism during ball milling of brittle starting components. The XRD patterns of B–10C and B–18C powders milled for 6 h indicated the presence of other peaks, suggesting that a metastable structure could have been formed. After milling for 90 h, these unknown peaks were still present. A large amount of B4C was formed after heat treatment at 1200 °C for 4 h beside these unknown peaks.