Wire electrical discharge machining and microstructural analysis of hot-pressed boron carbide

Ayan Pramanick; Partha Pratim Dey; Probal Kr Das; Niraj P Bhukhanwala

doi:10.1016/j.micron.2020.102991

Wire electrical discharge machining and microstructural analysis of hot-pressed boron carbide

Micron. 2021 Feb:141:102991. doi: 10.1016/j.micron.2020.102991. Epub 2020 Dec 3.

Authors

Ayan Pramanick¹, Partha Pratim Dey², Probal Kr Das³, Niraj P Bhukhanwala⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Sikkim, Ravangla, Sikkim, India. Electronic address: ayan_mech07@yahoo.co.in.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIEST, Shibpur, Howrah, West Bengal, India.
³ CSIR-Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute, Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
⁴ Bhukhanvala Industries Pvt. Ltd., Navsari, Gujrat, India.

PMID: 33321425
DOI: 10.1016/j.micron.2020.102991

Abstract

Boron carbide powder was hot-pressed at 2070 °C with 30 MPa uniaxial pressure and 90 min soaking. The mechanical, microstructure and other related properties were evaluated. XRD of the boron carbide powder and sintered samples, shows the presence of B₁₃C₂ phase of high electrical conductivity. Crystal lattice parameters, space group, cell angle, cell parameters, etc. were found from Rietveld refinement. The micro Vicker's hardness was 26.98 ± 0.98 GPa at 4.9 N load, fracture toughness 3.54 ± 0.26 MPa m and Young's modulus 461.50 ± 4.5 GPa. The hot-pressed boron carbide was found to be electrically conducting, which can be machined using a wire electrical discharge machine (WEDM).

Keywords: B(13)C(2)phase; Boron carbide; Hot press; Microstructure; WEDM; XRD-Rietveld refinement.