S. Ran, O. Biest, J. Vleugels
Jun 1, 2010
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Journal
Journal of the American Ceramic Society
Abstract
High-purity zirconium diboride (ZrB2) powders with submicrometer particle size were synthesized by borothermal reduction of nanometric ZrO2 powders in vacuum. The reaction process was experimentally and thermodynamically assessed. B2O3 was identified as a possible intermediate reaction product. ZrO2 completely converted to ZrB2 when thermally treated at 10001C for 2 h in a vacuum, but the removal of residual boron-related species required a temperature above 15001C. ZrB2 powders obtained at 10001–12001 Cs howed a faceted morphology, whereas those prepared above 15001 Ch ad a nearly spherical morphology. The particle size that was calculated from the measured surface area increased with the increasing synthesis temperature from 0.15 l ma t 10001 Ct o 0.66 l ma t 16501C. The oxygen content of the ZrB2 powders synthesized at 16501C was as low as 0.43 wt%.