Boron Carbide Synthesis in Low-Voltage DC Electric Arc Initiated in Open Air

Abstract

We describe a method of obtaining ultrafine boron carbide (B₁₃C₂) powder using the effect of a dc electric arc on a mixture of initial reactants containing carbon and boron. A peculiarity of the proposed method is that it can be implemented using arc discharge operating in open air without any vacuum equipment and protective inert gas atmosphere. X-ray diffraction data showed that the synthesized product in the general case contained three crystalline phases: boron carbide (B₁₃C₂), graphite (C), and boron oxide (B₂O₃). Electron-microscopic examination showed that the average size of boron carbide particles ranged from ~50 nm to ~2 μm.