Journal of the Less-Common Metals, 117 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPON (1986) 225 - 230 225 COMPLEX INVESTIGATION OF HOT-PRESSED BORON CARBIDE* G. A. GOGOTSI, YA. L. GROUSHEVSKY and 0. B. DASHEVSKAYA The Institute for Problems of Strength, Academy of Sciences, Ukrainian S.S.R. (U.S.S.R.) YU. G. GOGOTSI and V. A. LAVRENKO Kiev Polytechnical Institute, Kiev (U.S.S.R.) Summary In the present work we investigate the thermomechanical properties and oxidation resistance of hot-pressed boron carbide over a wide tempera- ture range: 20 - 1200 “C. It was demonstrated that oxidation reduced the strength of the material. The possibility of using boron carbide as a struc- tural material for components of various high-temperature devices has been evaluated. 1. Introduction Boron carbide with its high strength, hardness, wear resistance and rather low density is quite promising for structural applications. The four- point bending strengths of sir&red and hot-pressed boron carbide are usually 300 - 350 MPa [l] and 400 - 500 MPa [l, 21 respectively. As a rule, these values do not decrease up to 1500 “C in an inert atmosphere [2]. But hitherto B&-based materials have been used only at moderate temperatures [ 31, since at higher temperatures a risk of their active oxidation exists. The literature data on oxidation [4 - 61. . The oxidation of adequately. 2. Experimental details resistance are mainly related to B& powders compacted materials has not been studied Test samples (Figs. l(a) and 2) were cut from one bar of the material with a diamond saw and afterwards machined with a 100 pm diamond wheel. The elementary composition (wt.%) was determined by chemical analysis (B, 74.00; C, 22.18; Fe, 0.90; Al, 0.37; 0, 0.21; Ca, Mg, Si, Ti and others, 2.34). The high content of impurities is due to the use of technical B& powders for the production of the material investigated. *Paper presented at the 8th International Symposium on Boron, Borides, Carbides, Nitrides and Related Compounds, Tbilisi, October 8 - 12,1984. Elsevier Sequoia/Printed in The Netherlands