Selective migration of metals and metal borides to strengthen boron carbide

In this paper a few hot pressed as well as sintered boron carbide (BC) systems are reviewed that showed super-high strength, which are able to withstand pressures well above Hugoniot Elastic Limit. Regardless how small it might be, BCs are known to have carbon impurities. Probably the presence of a small amount of suitable third element that can combine with the free carbon and simultaneously influence the crystal structure through migration across the grain boundary is the key to improve strength. This paper also delineates the selectivity of the third element to be able to migrate and substitute in the BC crystals.