Based on the proposed inorganic reactions a series of high performance hexagonal boron nitride-containing composites (BNCC), include SiC-BN, Si3N4-SiC-BN, SiAlON-BN, AlN-BN, Al2O3-BN, AlON-BN and mullite-BN, have been prepared via reactive hot pressing or pressureless reactive sintering. Various boron-bearing components such as B, B4C, AlB2, SiB4, SiB6, B2O3 or H3BO3, 9Al2O3×2B2O3 (9A2B) and 2Al2O3×B2O3 (2AB) are used as the boron source. On the other hand, nitrogen gas or solid state nitirgen-bearing metal nitrides such as Si3N4 and AlN can be used as the nitrogen source. The in situ synthesized composites demonstrated homogeneous and isotropical microstructures with very fine (nano-sized) BN platelets or their agglomerates distributed in the matrixes. These composites showed high strength, low elasticity and improved strain tolerance. In this article the reaction design, thermodynamics, reaction mechanisms, reactive hot pressing or pressureless reactive sintering, microstructures and mechanical properties will be discussed.
A new integration of hot pressing and carbon partition process to produce high strength steel components with better toughness
