Boron carbide is a well-known abrasive material and it is third hardest material after diamond and cubic boron nitride. Boron carbide powder finds extensive application as a lapping agent in place of diamond. In the finishing of semi-precious gems such as ruby, synthetic corundum etc., boron carbide powder achieves about 60% of the speed steel and carbide tip tools and wire drawing dies. Fully dense boron carbide is successfully tested as a light weight armor material. Sintered boron carbide shapes are widely used as sand blasting nozzle, hard ceramic bearings and as grinding mortars.

 ADVANTAGES

• Boron carbide is a suitable material for many high performance applications due to its attractive combination of properties such as high hardness (29 GPa), low density (2.52 gm/cm³), high melting point (2450°C), high elastic modulus (448 GPa), chemical inertness, high neutron absorption cross-section (600 barns) etc.

APPLICATIONS

• Boron Carbide powder is used as abrasive for polishing and lapping of hard materials.
• Sintered boron carbide shapes are used as sand blasting nozzle, hard ceramic bearings.
• Boron carbide is used as body armor as well as vehicle armor
• In nuclear industry boron carbide is used as shielding and control rod material in nuclear reactors.
• Boron carbide is used as solid rocket propellant in aerospace industry due to its capability to generate tremendous amount of heat (12400 Kcal/Kg) in combination with oxygen.
• Boron carbide is also used for the preparation of various hard metal borides

Boron carbide is a well-known abrasive material and it is third hardest material after diamond and cubic boron nitride. Boron carbide powder finds extensive application as a lapping agent in place of diamond. In the finishing of semi-precious gems such as ruby, synthetic corundum etc., boron carbide powder achieves about 60% of the speed steel and carbide tip tools and wire drawing dies. Fully dense boron carbide is successfully tested as a light weight armor material. Sintered boron carbide shapes are widely used as sand blasting nozzle, hard ceramic bearings and as grinding mortars.

ADVANTAGES

• Boron carbide is a suitable material for many high performance applications due to its attractive combination of properties such as high hardness (29 GPa), low density (2.52 gm/cm³), high melting point (2450°C), high elastic modulus (448 GPa), chemical inertness, high neutron absorption cross-section (600 barns) etc.

APPLICATION

• Boron Carbide powder is used as abrasive for polishing and lapping of hard materials.
• Sintered boron carbide shapes are used as sand blasting nozzle, hard ceramic bearings and body armor.
• In nuclear industry boron carbide is used as shielding and control rod material in nuclear reactors.
• In aerospace industry, due to its capability to generate tremendous amount of heat (12400 Kcal/Kg) in combination with oxygen, boron carbide is used as solid rocket propellant.
• Boron carbide is also used for the preparation of various hard metal borides.

RAW MATERIALS

• Raw materials are easily available in the local market.
  

INFRASTRUCTURE 

• The preparation of boron carbide is carried out in a graphite resistance furnace made of mild steel. The furnace is water cooled and well insulated graphite terminals. The power supply to the terminal is drawn from a high current (2000amp) single phase 200KVA transformer. The total estimated area required is about 131 sq. m. This consists of an asbestos roof shed of 110 sq. m. for post reduction process and outside platform 21 sq. m. for the installation of reduction furnace. This layout does not include workshop and analytical laboratory area.

MANPOWER

• The manpower requirements depend on the capacity and the extent of automation. However, one chemist & two semi-skilled workers are sufficient to start production.