Influence of chemical composition on mechanical properties of spark plasma sintered boron carbide monoliths

Fully dense boron carbide monoliths exhibiting fine microstructure (i.e., submicrometric grain size) are sintered by Spark Plasma Sintering. Two different commercial powder batches, exhibiting different stoichiometries (i.e., B/C ratio and oxygen content) and various amounts of secondary phases (i.e., boric acid and free carbon), are used. Their chemical composition is well-defined by coupling different methods (Transmission Electron Microscopy associated with XRD analyses, and Instrumental Gas Analysis), and are correlated with their mechanical properties, characterized from meso- to macro-scopic scales by nano-indentation and ultrasonic pulse echography. The presence of secondary phases (graphite and boric acid) is evidenced in various proportions in each powder batch. If the boric acid disappears during sintering, the graphite remains. However, for the considered amounts of graphite (lower than 1wt%), the low variations in graphite content have no significant effect on hardness and elasticity values. At the opposite, the presence of oxygen in boron carbide lattice, leading to a boron oxycarbide phase, induces a decrease in both hardness and elasticity properties.