Boron carbide nanoparticles for high-hardness ceramics: Crystal lattice defects after treatment in a planetary ball mill

Deformation features of the boron carbide lattice treated in a planetary ball mill are studied in our work. It is shown that such treatment causes a decrease in the B4C grain size and cracking along the {202¯1}h planes, whereas the same treatment in the presence of silicon results in the appearance of twins along the {101¯1}h planes. Distorted stacking faults along (101¯4)h are observed. Ab initio simulations shown, that among low-index crystallographic planes {202¯1}h and {101¯1}h have the smallest values of specific surface energy which favors the formation of defects and cracks.