Computational Physics GroupKarel Matous |
||||||||||
|
Shock-induced reaction synthesis of cubic boron nitride
1School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA, 2Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA, 3Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA, 4Nuclear Science Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA, 5Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA. Abstract Here, we report
ultra-fast (0.1--5 microseconds) shock-induced reactions
in the 3B-TiN system, leading to the direct synthesis of
cubic boron nitride, which is extremely rare in nature
and is the second hardest material known. Composite
powders were produced through high-energy ball milling
to provide intimate mixing and subsequently shocked
using an explosive charge. High-resolution transmission
electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction confirm the
formation of nanocrystalline grains of c-BN produced
during the metathetical reaction between boron and
titanium nitride. Our results illustrate the possibility
of rapid reactions enabled by high-energy ball milling
possibly occurring in the solid state on incredibly
short timescales. This process may provide a route for
the discovery and fabrication of advanced compounds.
AcknowledgmentThe reported data are presented in the supplementary material. This work was supported by the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, under the Award No. DE-NA0002377 as part of the Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program II. M. T. Beason was supported by the Department of Defense (DoD) through the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG) Program. Download paper here
(c) 2018 University of
Notre Dame and Prof. Karel Matous
|