This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1111/JACE.17062 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved DR SISI XIANG (Orcid ID : 0000-0002-1403-803X) MR. BRUCE YANG (Orcid ID : 0000-0002-7072-6961) PROFESSOR YU XUAN KELVIN XIE (Orcid ID : 0000-0001-8675-5321) Article type : Rapid Communication The effect of boron and aluminum additions on the microstructure of arc-melted boron carbide Sisi Xiang 1 , Qirong Yang 2 , Hsu-Ming Lien 1 , Keya Shial 1 , Eric Grounske 2 , Richard Haber 2 , Kelvin Y. Xie 1 * 1 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA 2 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA ABSTRACT In this work, B 4 C, B 4 C + 5 at.% Al, B 4 C + B, and B 4 C + B + 5 at.% Al were arc melted, and the resultant solid products were characterized. Results from x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy showed that adding Al alone in B 4 C did not result in Al-doping; adding Al and B in B 4 C led to Al-doping. Al-doping also changed the wettability, thus the surface energy of boron carbide in the liquid state. Transmission electron microscopy revealed stacking faults are more likely to form in the Al-doped sample, especially in the regions where the Al concentration is high. KEYWORDS: Boron carbide; B-doping; Al-doping; Accepted Article